The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva has declared that Nigeria loses no fewer than 700,000 barrels of crude oil to thieves and non-state actors daily.
He stated this while speaking said in Effurun, Delta on Saturday at the 2002 graduation of students of Petroleum Training Institute (PTI).
The minister who was represented by Ambassador Gabriel Aduda, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources said the Federal Government was making concerted efforts to curtail the menace, however.
He said crude oil theft had impacted negatively on the nation’s foreign exchange inflow.
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‘Oil theft has denied the country of an estimated 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The adverse effect of this is the drop in the production of crude oil and decline in the national income,’ he said.
He said the petroleum ministry would synergise with the National Assembly to ensure that adequate attention was given to the amendment of the PTI Act.
Sylva pointed out that the institute could achieve more if the PTI Act was amended to enable the institute to have access to more funding.
He said the ministry had given PTI mandates in different areas of research into use of local materials in crude oil production, stoppage of gas flaring and the commercialisation of gas, among others.
The minister advised the institute to embrace contemporary ways and methods to deliver on its mandates following global rapid changes in technology.
In a related development, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Mohammed Bello-Koko has clarified that rogue vessels engaged in crude oil theft on Nigerian waters often go undetected because they turn off their Automatic Identification System (AIS).
Koko made this claim while briefing State House correspondents on Tuesday in Abuja. He asserted hat such ships have mastered how to evade arrest because they switch off their onboard automated identification system which displays the vessel’s position in the vicinity.
He pointed out that the authority does not have the required technology to detect their origin or destination.
Speaking on the heels of a recent incident where an oil tanker evaded arrest in Nigeria after illegally lifting crude oil, Koko pointed out that the NPA is now in the process of procuring the technology called the Vessel Tracking Service (VTS) to enable it to identify, locate and monitor all vessels in the nation’s waters.