The Group Managing Director of Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, told a legislative committee this week that a 4-kilometer pipeline from the Forcados export terminal that has been used to steal oil for nine years, resulting in the theft of hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day, has been discovered.
Mele Kyari, said Nigeria was losing an alarming 600,000 barrels of oil every day, triple the figure initially estimated.
Mr. Mele Kyari and the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor on Friday declared that an extensive investigation will be conducted into the newly discovered illegal pipeline.
They claimed preliminary investigation showed that the illegal pipeline led to an illegal loading point in the creeks where large quantities of crude oil are allegedly being diverted and stolen.
The duo made the promise after visiting the scene of the insertions on Friday.
Speaking to newsmen, General Irabor vowed to launch a full-scale investigation into the illegal activities.
“This is an eye-opener and I’m glad that I’ve come here,” the General said. “This is really very sad and we are going to get to the root of it all. There will be an investigation that will go through the entire length of the chain to establish who did this and how long it has been, among several other issues.”
On his part, Mele Kyari said, “The attachment on our Trans-Escravos line, that illegal connection, is professionally done,” he said. “And the end result is they connected this to an inactive test line which should never carry crude under normal circumstances. And we have seen that this line flows all the way, parallel to the other two active lines, into the Afremo platform. And we think this is a good revelation.”
“Anyone involved in this process, whether from the community members, our community contractors, government security agencies, workers of the oil companies, including NNPC and Shell, anyone that is involved with this will be dealt with by the law.”
In August, the federal government awarded pipeline surveillance contracts to Niger Delta militant leader, Government Ekpemukpolo Tompolo. Tompolo and his aides are claiming responsibility for the discovery of the illegal pipeline.
Last month, President Muhammadu Buhari said oil theft was putting the Nigerian economy in a precarious situation.