Abuja, Nigeria | – The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says the nation lost about 750 million dollars to oil theft in 2019. The NNPC Group Managing Director, Malam Mele Kyari, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday according to Nigerian local newspaper, The Vanguard.
Kyari said this when members of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 13
of the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) visited the NNPC Towers.
He decried the growing activities of oil thieves and pirates which he described
as a threat to the operations of the corporation.
The GMD who spoke on the topic: “Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea; Issues,
Challenges for International Trade, National Security and Sustainable
Development of Member States”, said that any threat to the corporation’s
operations was a direct threat to the very survival of Nigeria as a nation.
This, he said, was because of the strategic role of the corporation as an
enabler of the economy. He listed other security challenges facing the
corporation to include vandalism of oil and gas infrastructure and kidnapping
of personnel.
According to him, there is a deep connection between the various shades of
insecurity challenges as they were all linked to what is happening in the Gulf
of Guinea and the entire maritime environment. He called for a concerted effort
and synergy to secure oil and gas operations for the economic survival of the
country.
The NNPC boss reassured that in spite of the increase in demand for fossil oil
crude oil would still remain relevant. “Even by 2050, fossil fuel would account
for 80 per cent of the energy mix, and there would still be consumption of at
least, 100 million barrels of oil per day. ” We are determined to remain
relevant in the long term,” he assured.
