LAGOS, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Nigeria lost as much as 22 million
barrels of oil to theft in the first half of this year, a
problem that is a threat to the country's economy, state oil
company NNPC said.
The stolen oil amounts to more than 120,000 barrels per day
(bpd), or roughly 6% of Nigeria's nearly 2 million bpd output.
Oil accounts brings in 90% of Nigeria's foreign exchange and
the bulk of government revenue. But the oil pipelines that snake
through the swampy, oil-rich Niger Delta region are targets for
theft and sabotage.
Godwin Obaseki, the governor of Edo state and chairman of
the ad-hoc Committee of the National Economic Council on Crude
Oil Theft, Prevention and Control, said the 22 million barrel
figure could double by the end of the year if nothing was done
to combat theft.
In its June monthly report, NNPC said there was a 77% rise
in oil pipeline vandalism. That report noted 106 pipeline
breaches in June, up from just 60 in May.
Many of the breaches are points where thieves can off siphon
oil and either sell it illegally or refine it in so-called
artisanal refineries that are often little more than drums
boiling oil into rudimentary fuels.
NNPC spokesman Ndu Ughamadu said the government was looking
at the problem, but did not specify what actions were expected
to combat it.