. Says Nigeria loses 115bpd to theft, vandalism
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), says it is targeting about N3.4 trillion revenue for 2022, above the N3.01 trillion projected in 2021.
The Commission Chief Executive, NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, disclosed this in a presentation made to the Senate Committee on Petroleum, Upstream, led by Bassey Akpan, during an oversight meeting at its headquarters on Wednesday in Abuja.
This is even as the Commission realised about 88.45% or N2.711 trillion of its 2021 revenue estimates of N3.066 trillion amid crude losses of over 115,000 barrels daily from theft and vandalism.
He explained that the higher revenue projection follows the fact that the Commission exceeded its budget in 2020 by about 13.98% at N1.99 trillion against N1.746 trillion targeted.
He attributed the underperformance to mostly oil theft, sabotage, vandalism and technical issues, including ruptures associated with the integrity of the assets.
We are trying to put in place an industry-wide initiative to ameliorate the situation, and we are expecting to go live in terms of implementation in collaboration with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and the other stakeholders.
Daily losses
Speaking on the revenue losses, Komolafe said: “We are losing about 115,926 barrels per day — so that literally translates to roughly about $300 million, and that’s a huge loss to a nation that actually requires these funds.
“But the larger percentage is due to crude oil theft, and as a Commission, we know the impact of this, and recognising our regulatory role, we have been able to reach out to other operators as to what we can do about this.
“We are trying to put in place an industry-wide initiative to ameliorate the situation, and we are expecting to go live in terms of implementation in collaboration with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and the other stakeholders.”
He however assured that despite these challenges, the Commission will continue to promote an enabling environment for investment in the upstream petroleum sector, establish, monitor and regulate as well as enforce environmental measures and optimise government’s take from the hydrocarbon resources.
He also told the Senate Committee that the 2020 marginal field bid round concluded last year yielded about N174.944 billion, of which 20 companies that won the bids had partially paid up.
On May 31, the Federal Government awarded licences to successful investors for the development of 57 marginal oil fields sold during the bids.