‘We must contend with it’ — Kyari asks NUPENG, NARTO to collaborate on tackling oil theft 

Mele Kyari, group managing director (GMD), Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, has called on stakeholders in the oil sector to support the move against crude oil theft. 

According to him, the support of the National Association of Petroleum and Engineering Gas Workers (NUPENG), the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and other stakeholders would be instrumental in tackling the menace in the Niger Delta. 

The statement is coming on the heels of the recent crackdown against oil theft in the country. 

Kyari said this on Tuesday at the 5th quadrennial delegates conference in Asaba, Delta state. 

The event was themed “Just Energy Transition: For Oil and Gas Workers Social Welfare and Security”.

Speaking on the development, Kyari said the impact of pipeline vandalism had reduced the country’s capacity to meet its oil output quota.

“You can see the short trouble that we have and what it has caused all of us. But more than this, comrades, our local industries are challenged and you may be aware, we have seen vandal activities around our areas of operations not just in the Niger Delta but across other corridors of product supply,” Kyari said. 

According to the NNPC boss, the activities of oil thieves have gotten to an unparalleled limit, almost bringing the industry to its knees today.

“As we speak now, our production total is less than 1.5 million barrels per day. This no doubt will affect the investing companies, they will not have the resources to continue to invest and therefore making more and more sustainable employment to become a challenge, no doubt about it,” he said. 

“That is why all of us must practically come together to see how we can contend with it. There is so much going on now. We are leading a process to ensure that we intervene in the security matter.

“We want to ensure that everybody is involved so that ultimately we are able to get back this industry or otherwise this industry will collapse in our hands and if it does, we will not be talking about employment, and this is the reality we are facing today.

“You are very critical in stopping some of the situations today because when people steal products and they convert them to diesel, they will use your trucks to bring them into the country.

“And you can play a very prominent role to stop some of these transactions going on and I implore all of us to come on the desk so that this industry can survive.

“We are partners and workers in the industry and NNPC is here to protect and preserve every institution that is helping this industry to grow and survive.”

On the issue of the energy transition, the GMD said the concept does not mean that oil would disappear by 2050.

He said the concept of energy transition is that countries should start embracing cleaner sources of energy that are more friendly to the environment.

He noted that the NNPC was also promoting the initiative by shifting more attention to gas production. 

“No doubt energy transition is going on and for emphasis, the meaning is that oil is not going to vanish by the year 2050 or 2060. What it means is that oil will still be relevant; there will still be 100 million barrels of oil demand by the year 2050,” he said. 

“It is the use and the cleanliness utilisation of it that will change and the activities that businesses do to ensure that the next event of our activities will become positive in such a way that you have a net-zero situation. 

He said the world has accepted gas as a transition fuel and there needs to be more gas development to aid the energy transition. 

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) had said the country lost about $3.27 billion worth of crude oil to theft between January 2021 and February 2022.