NNPC loses 116.46m litres of oil in one year
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Some 116.46 million litres of petrol worth N18.88 billion were stolen in 2021 through the four pipeline segments traversing Atlas Cove-Mosimi and Atlas Cove-Idimu-Satellite, Mosimi-Ibadan, Ibadan-Ilorin, and Port Harcourt-Aba.
A total 6.371 million litres were lost in January 2021 through three pipelines, excluding Port Harcourt-Aba which did not pump fuel that month, according to figures supplied by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).
The NNPC confirms that the ex-depot price of petrol was N143.17 per litre, which means the value of stolen fuel in 2021 is calculated as follows:
- January (6.371 million litres) – N943.92 million
- February (5.317 million litres) – N787.88 million
- March (5.722 million litres) – N855.28 million
- April (7.366 million litres) – N1.09 billion
- May (14.157 million litres) – N2.1 billion
- June (10.585 million litres) – N1.57 billion
- July (9.329 million litres) – N1.38 billion
- August (8.583 million litres) – N1.27 billion
- September (13.92 million litres) – N2.06 billion
- October (14.075 million litres) – N3.31 billion
- November (5.953 million litres) – N1.283 billion
- December (15.085 million litres) – N2.24 billion
Total petrol stolen in 2021 is 116.46 million litres worth N18.88 billion.
The NNPC has been sole importer of refined petroleum products for about four years running after independent marketers stopped importation because they could not access foreign exchange (forex).
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MOMAN advocates deregulation
Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) Executive Secretary Clement Isong argued there will be no incentive for theft and smuggling if petrol and other produces are deregulated, per reporting by The PUNCH.
“Now you’re saying that if you deregulate petrol the price will go up. Yes, it will. But the price of everything else went up, so why is petrol different?” he asked.
“You say it will increase the cost of transportation if it goes up. But in the last five years, the cost of transportation has gone up by about 253 per cent, whereas petrol prices have almost remained at similar rates.
“The prices of petroleum products have been going up everywhere, but why do we in Nigeria think that it shouldn’t go up in our country? Everything else is allowed to go up, except only this one.
“The truth is that we simply need to wean the country of petrol subsidy. In all the countries around us in West Africa there is no subsidy.
“For as long as the international prices continue to rise and we keep our own prices where they are, what will happen is that those countries will suck the products out of Nigeria and you simply will not find the product in Nigeria.
“If you go to those countries, the marketers there will tell you that they are unable to sell because of the product coming from Nigeria, it is killing their market. This happens in all the countries around Nigeria.
“This is because they simply make more money buying from here at N162-N165/litre and going across the border to sell at N500/litre.
“It is more money for them and it is simply the law of economics, called arbitrage, which is a market distortion. And it is what the subsidy on petrol does on Nigeria, a market distortion.
“Something is worth N500 and you’re selling at N200. Now where you’re supposed to find it at N200 you will not see it because it has moved to where the actual value of N500 is.This can also contribute to the scarcity we see in parts of Nigeria.
“That is why the NNPC, if it is meant to normally supply 60 million litres per day, for it to keep queues out of filling stations, it will have to increase its supply to 90 to 100 million litres. That’s the problem.”
Pipeline vandalism
Abuja announced on 31 March that the value of crude oil stolen through ruptured pipelines between January 2021 and February 2022 was about $3.27 billion.
Both local and international oil companies said the massive oil theft across the country threatens their existence and national economy.
Fuel consumption volume not known, says Sylva
Petroleum Resources Minister of State Timipre Sylva has threatened that the government will deal decisively with vandals.
He said apart from the problem of pipeline vandalism, fuel smuggling makes it difficult for the government to know the volume consumed in Nigeria.
His words: “It’s more or less fueling a criminal economy. The NNPC imports the products, and nobody knows the exact destination of the products at the end of the day.
“The imported products come to Nigeria, and from there filters out of our borders to neighbouring countries.
“So, as a country, we cannot tell the exact volume of petroleum products that we consume on a daily basis. All we have been doing is to assume the level of consumption over a period and work with that.”
“I have said this publicly before that I don’t know the figure. When I assumed office, initially I was told that our daily consumption was 66 million litres.
“Then, when fuel prices increased from N145 to N162, the consumption figure temporarily fell to about 40 something million litres per day, because the arbitrage opportunity reduced.
“Then the value of the naira dropped again, and the number went up again to over 60 million litres. I am told the figure sometimes rise to as high as 90 or over 100 million litres. I don’t know how that happens.
“At this rate, I have said if anyone is looking at a criminal enterprise, look no further than the fuel subsidy.”