Managing Director Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Haruna Momoh, lamented the incessant pipeline vandalism, which has affected petroleum products supply across the country, saying that the company, last year, lost N376 billion to pipelines vandals.
Momoh, who disclosed this during a capacity building workshop for energy editors and correspondents, organised by the NNPC in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, explained that the company recorded more breaks on its pipeline system within the periods of 2008 to 2013 when such losses were incurred.
The PPMC boss, who was represented by the company’s Executive Director, Commercial, Mr. Francis Amego, noted that about 497 break points were recorded on various sections of its pipeline in 2009 and now the situation had worsened, as the company had witnessed a steady rise in the number breaks on its pipeline.
Momoh added that between 2008 and 2013, the PPMC had recorded 3,591 break points on its pipeline system, urging communities to assist in arresting the menace because of its security risks and economic implication to the economy.
Destruction of illegal crude oil dumps in Soku, Akuku-Toru Local Government Council of Rivers State… recently. Photo: NAN
He noted that the threat required increased proactive measures to combat the situation, irrespective of extant measures that have been initiated by the government, adding that the country should strive to adopt the option of electronic surveillance mechanism on the pipelines, considered a futuristic but expensive approach.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Enginneer Andrew Yakubu, while commenting on the incessant attacks on the pipelines, said the corporation had resorted to use of marine transport to supply crude to its refineries, especially Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC and Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC).
Yakubu said with pipeline vandalism, it had become almost impossible for “you to pump a barrel of crude in Escravos and get anything in Warri Refinery,” disclosing that about 400,000 barrels of oil per day, which translated to a revenue loss of about $1.7 billion a month and $20.4 billion yearly, was estimated to have been lost to oil thieves in the petroleum sector.
While explaining that the capacity utilisation of the refineries was at 60 per cent name plate, he noted that the refineries could operate better with regular supply of crude through the pipelines.
NNPC boss said: “Capacity utilisation of the refineries is 60 per cent of name plate, the 60 per cent of the name plate capacity is not because the plants cannot take more, but because we have challenges of crude supply, so we have to go through marine.
“If you don’t have a pipeline that supplies your crude continuously you cannot maximise the volume put in. So, if you have to go through the marine and alternative sources, you are constrained based on the volume that those systems can deliver.
“To be frank, there is a major challenge, you cannot put a barrel in Excravos and get it at Warri end. So, the pipeline is completely abandoned. Warri to Port Harcourt is the same thing, it is absolutely impossible,” he stressed.
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