‘Nigeria loses N2.5bn daily to oil theft’

Daily Trust

22 February 2012

‘Nigeria loses N2.5bn daily to oil theft’

Nigeria is losing an estimated 150,000 barrels of crude oil every day to theft in the Niger Delta region, petroleum company Shell has said.

This volume of stolen crude amounts to about $16 million or N2.5 billion, calculated at oil price of $105 per barrel and a naira exchange rate of N160 to a dollar.

Ian Craig, Executive Vice President, Sub- Saharan Africa Shell Exploration and Production Africa Limited, said in a paper at the on-going Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference in Abuja that the greatest challenge in the sector now is the massive, organised oil theft business and the criminality and corruption which it fosters.

“The volume of oil which is stolen is difficult to estimate but is probably in the region of 150,000 bbls/d,” he said.

“We still face major challenges ... (there is) chronic underfunding of the onshore joint ventures where NNPC (the national oil company) is the majority shareholder,” Craig told the conference.

“The greatest challenge, however, is the massive organised oil theft business and the criminality and corruption which it fosters. This drives away talent ... increases costs, reduces revenues both for investors and the government and results in major environmental impacts,” he added.