The Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited will have the first right of refusal to supply the Dangote refinery with about 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day for the next 20 years.
The Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPC Ltd, Mele Kyari, disclosed this to journalists when he appeared at the 49th Session of the State House Ministerial Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
A supply of 300,000 per day in 20 years brings the total supply to 2.1 trillion by the NNPC.
According to him, the corporation had succeeded in locking down the huge supply as part of the Federal Government’s means of guaranteeing sufficient petroleum products supply for Nigeria.
“We have secured the right to sell up to 300,000 barrels of crude oil to the Dangote refinery for the next 20 years. Not only that, by right, we also have access to 20 percent production from that plant,” he said.
He alleged that stolen crude oil products were now stored in places of worship such as churches and mosques.
He also noted that various law enforcement agencies had arrested 122 persons involved in pipeline vandalism and oil theft from April to August of 2022.
This was as he justified the government’s recent move to hire private entities to safeguard the network of oil pipelines crisscrossing the country.
According to him, the NNPC operatives discovered that stolen petroleum products were stored in places of worship with the consent of the clergy, members and neighbours.
He claimed that in one instance, at least 295 illegal connections were spotted on a 200km stretch of pipeline.
“As you may be aware, because of the very unfortunate acts of vandals along our major pipelines from Atlas Cove all the way to Ibadan, and all others connecting all the 37 depots that we have across the country, none of them can take delivery of products today.
“The reason is very simple. For some of the lines, for instance, from Warri to Benin, we haven’t operated them for 15 years. Every molecule of product that we put gets lost. You remember the sad fire incident close to Sapele that killed so many people. We had to shut it down and as we speak, we have a high level of losses on our product pipeline.
“You remember Lagos, when a fire outbreak happened on one of our pipelines. We discovered that some of the pipelines were actually connected to individuals’ homes. And not only that, with all sensitivity to our religious beliefs, some of the pipelines and some of the products that we found were in churches and mosques,” Kyari said.
He explained that the spate of vandalism had prompted NNPC Limited to shut down its network of pipelines conveying petroleum products across theft-prone areas.
“When we say we are losing 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day, we mean it. This is an opportunity lost. There is no company that will produce oil and then you lose 80 per cent of that and continue to produce the oil.”
The NNPC chief said the government’s response to oil theft had led to the arrest of 122 persons between April and August, 2022.