The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, Mr. Mele Kyari, has revealed that the stealing of crude oil going on in the Niger Delta is beginning to frustrate the efforts of the Federal Government, News About Nigeria reports.
Kyari disclosed this on Friday when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Appropriation on the proposed budget for 2024 in Abuja.
He described the oil theft and vandalism being carried out in the Niger Delta region as a calamity, noting that there are over 4,800 illegal connections on crude oil pipelines in the area, with insertions made within every kilometre.
Kyari, while expressing his concerns over this development, warned that this could frustrate the projections of the Federal Government.
He also noted that the oil produced on a daily basis would depend greatly on the security situation in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, maintaining that non-state actors would be engaged as a last resort to put an end to what he described as abnormalities.
Kyari further disclosed that people travelled from all parts of the country to carry out illegal refining in the Niger Delta region, adding that the group has engaged the locals to deal with the situation and ensure that they put a stop to it.
He assured the Assembly that the NNPCL was doing all it could to contain the challenge and restore sanity, maintaining that what is happening is causing colossal damage not only to the environment alone but to host communities alike.
