National assembly considers stiffer sanctions for crude oil theft, vandalism

The national assembly’s joint committee on petroleum resources (upstream) says it will consider stiffer consequences for crude oil thieves and vandals of Nigeria’s critical hydrocarbon infrastructure.

According to a statement by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, the joint committee spoke on Tuesday.

NNPC said the committee paid an oversight visit to the NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services (NUIMS) — an upstream arm of the national oil firm — at its headquarters in Lagos on Tuesday.

In the statement, the lawmakers pledged support for NNPC’s ongoing efforts to boost Nigeria’s crude oil production and grow its reserves.

Led by the committee chairmen from both chambers, Eteng Williams and Alhassan Doguwa, the legislators described the menace of crude oil theft and vandalism of critical oil and gas infrastructure as major challenges to Nigeria’s revenue generation and budget targets.

They said the menace must be curtailed.

In his remarks, Williams said it was important for the national assembly to come up with legislative action that would help stop crude oil theft and increase Nigeria’s crude oil production.

He said based on findings from NUIMS, it is duty-bound on the legislature to take decisive measures that would help the government to achieve its set targets in the oil and gas sector.

On his part, Doguwa said by virtue of their duties as a legislature, the lawmakers would expedite the strengthening of a legislative framework to be able to check the excesses bedevilling the nation’s oil and gas sector.

Doguwa, who commended NNPC’s efforts for its industry-wide security cooperation against the nation’s hydrocarbon infrastructure, said more work needs to be done to ensure the company increases Nigeria’s crude oil production and grows its reserves.

He said the legislature would consider deploying the stick-and-carrot approach to address the issue, but where it becomes necessary, the stick approach must be emphasised to rise vehemently against any encumbrance standing in the way of Nigeria’s economic growth and development.

In his presentation to the lawmakers, Bala Wunti, the chief upstream investment officer (CUIO) of NNPC, described NUIMS as a trustee of the country’s upstream investments, ensuring Nigeria maximises returns by effectively supervising its joint venture (JV), production sharing contract (PSC), and service contract (SC) operating partners.

Wunti, who commended the lawmakers for their consistent support of the NNPC, said engagements with the national assembly are crucial as they will help the NNPC to attain its mandate.

“We are here to see how the NASS will help us produce more barrels and deliver value to our shareholders. Increasing production is the new narrative and your support is needed to enable us achieve our set targets based on our key principles of safety, speed, compliance and efficiency,” he said.

Wunti said, so far, the industry-wide security collaboration against crude oil theft and vandalism of Nigeria’s hydrocarbon infrastructure through the four-way strategy of “detect, deter, respond and recover” has been instrumental in the recent restoration of some of the nation’s lost barrels.