Theft, Pipeline Vandalism Responsible For Crude Losses — Sylva

The Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva has blamed pipeline vandalism, theft, and deteriorated infrastructure for the loss of revenue from oil output.

In a statement released on Monday by his Senior Advisor for Media and Communications, Horatius Egua, the minister stated that despite the difficulties, the Federal Government was committed to reversing the trend.

By increased investments and security along the main oil and gas pipelines in the Niger Delta region, Sylva claimed that the Federal Government was resolved to halt the trend.

He added that in contrast to allegations that measurement errors account for 40% of the volumes of crude oil losses, the main causes of crude oil losses were theft, pipeline vandalism, and production delays as a result of pipeline unavailability.

“It is a known fact that the major losses of crude oil in the country have been through theft and destruction of oil pipelines.

“Again, we also know that some of the oil infrastructure are old and decayed and cannot perform at maximum capacity.

“And there is also the issue of lack of investments in fossil fuel in the country and the drive towards renewable energy has really hampered new investements in this sector,” he said.

The minister claimed that steps had been taken by the government to bring the industry back to sanity.

According to the article, he said the issue of crude oil losses is a systemic one that the government is actively addressing in an effort to develop long-term remedies.

Thus, Sylva advised the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to cooperate amicably.

He claimed that doing so would guarantee that the limitations and difficulties in the optimal crude oil production volume were swiftly resolved to increase national revenue.

He contends that, particularly during this crucial time of low revenue for the country, the Federal Government cannot continue to lose money due to alleged failures in crude oil output.

The minister stated that now was not the time to reflect on previous errors or play pointless blame games, but rather to work to plug all leaks so that the government could reap the most rewards from its crude oil and gas holdings.

Sylva expressed her happiness with the increased security along the region's main oil pipelines but urged continued work from all parties involved to preserve maximum crude oil production.

“We are very confident that Nigeria will achieve two million barrel per day crude oil production target very soon.

“The government is doing everything possible to get to where we should be and everyone is working hard to achieve this,” the minister said.