NNPC: 54 Million Litres Of Oil Unaccounted For Daily - Mele Kyari

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, has said that 54 million litres of petroleum products are unaccounted for daily.

He also disclosed that the oil regulating body said that it has no account for the petroleum products smuggled out of the country through its borders.

This revelation was made at an event titled ‘Exiting petroleum subsidy: Ensuring self-sufficiency in domestic refining of petroleum products,' convened by the Joint Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream and Downstream).

Kyari said, “We don’t know how much petroleum products we consume daily in this country, but we know how much of the product that is taken out of depot.

“This year, around 54 million litres of petroleum products are evacuated from the depot daily, but the consumption is somewhere below that.

READ ALSO: Financial Report: How NNPC Spent Over N58bn On Refineries Only To Generate N2bn Revenue

“The NNPC has no knowledge of the amount of products that are transported through Nigeria’s borders to neighbouring countries.

“It is impossible to know; nobody declares it, and therefore as it crosses, it goes.”

He said that the only effective solution to curbing smuggling in the country would be an end to subsidising the product.

Kyari also disclosed that the country lost around $48 million worth of crude oil from pipeline vandalism.

Speaking on the shutting down on refineries, he said, “One is a business decision. They are in such a condition that we can only extract 70 to 80 per cent of the value of crude. It is needless to operate it when you know you will lose 20 per cent of the value.

“Second is that we cannot even guarantee crude oil supply to these lines.

“From Excravos to Warri and then to Kaduna; Bonny to Okrika, the pipelines are very old. Some are 30 to 40 years old and have not been replaced.

“We have not done proper maintenance in the last 30 years, and the cumulative effect is that even when you start it today, it cannot be run optimally.

“To replace pipeline from Excravos to Kaduna, you need at least $2bn and we don’t have that kind of money.”