Kyari explains why Tompolo got contract to combat oil theft

The Group Chief Executive Office of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, has given reasons why the outfit had to engage the services of private security contractors to protect oil and gas pipelines and installations in the Niger Delta.

Recall that the NNPCL had in August awarded a multi-billion naira pipeline surveillance contract to a former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo.

The surveillance contract is reportedly worth N48 billion per year (N4 billion per month).

In his keynote address at a legislative transparency and accountability summit with the theme “Enhancing Transparency and Accountability in the Oil and Gas Sector,” organized by the House of Representatives Anti-Corruption Committee, Kyari said the decision has been a masterstroke as the efforts of the contractors are yielding positive results.

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Kyari noted that before the engagement of the contractors, the country was losing over 200,000 barrels of oil through theft on daily basis.

But with the engagement of the security companies, thousands of illegal refineries had been destroyed, with the NNPCL making a discovery of over 295 illegal connections to national trunk pipelines.

“The issue of crude oil theft we discovered, was not expected. We didn’t know that this is happening but the scale is enormous, we have seen pipelines taken from our main trunk lines to abandon platforms,” he said.

“We have thousands of illegal refineries that we have taken down in the past 45 months. We have seen over 295 illegal connections to our pipelines. Many of them have been there for years.

“That you have a situation where your production came down to 1.1 million barrels, from 1.8, the reason is that not all of them are stolen. Let me clear about that misconception that the remaining balance is stolen.

“Companies will stop injecting oil into the pipeline the moment they discover it can’t get to the terminal. Therefore, at the peak of production, you lose over two hundred thousand barrels per day. But once companies discover this production won’t get to the terminal, they will terminate it. So, we are losing up to 700,000 barrels of opportunity. Its opportunity lost.

“In terms of stealing, we have been able to restore two of our trunk lines after the discoveries we have made. We were left with no choice than to involve private security contractors and it works, they are complementing our government security agencies and they have done great work. The navy, army and etc everyone has made contributions,” he added.