By Ella Anokam
The Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva has attributed loss of revenue from crude production to theft, pipeline vandalism and decayed infrastructure.
The minister, in a statement on Monday by his Senior Adviser, Media and Communications, Horatius Egua said in spite the challenges, the Federal Government was determined to end the trend.
Sylva said the Federal Government was determined to end the trend through improved investments and security along the major oil and gas pipelines in Niger Delta region.
According to him, contrary to reports that about 40 per cent of the volumes of crude losses are due to measurement inaccuracies, adding that major sources of crude oil losses were theft, pipeline vandalism and production deferment as a result of pipeline non-availability.
“It is a known fact that the major losses of crude oil in the country have been through theft and destruction of oil pipelines.
“Again, we also know that some of the oil infrastructure are old and decayed and cannot perform at maximum capacity.
“And there is also the issue of lack of investments in fossil fuel in the country and the drive towards renewable energy has really hampered new investements in this sector,” he said.
The minister said the government had put measures in place to restore sanity in the sector.
He added that contrary to the report, the problem associated with crude oil losses are systemic issues that the government was already handling with a view to finding permanently solutions to.
Sylva, therefore, urged the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to harmoniously work together.
This, he said, would ensure that the constraints and impeding challenges in the optimal crude oil production volume were speedily addressed to boost national revenue.
According to him, the Federal Government cannot continue to lose revenue through perceived lapses in crude oil production, especially at this very critical period of scarce revenue for the nation.
The minister said that this was not the time to dwell on the mistakes of the past or engaged in needless blame games but a time to work to close all existing leakages to enable government get maximum benefits from its crude oil and gas assets.
While expressing satisfaction at the improved security along the major oil pipelines in the region, Sylva called for sustained efforts by all concerned to maintain maximum crude oil production.
“We are very confident that Nigeria will achieve two million barrel per day crude oil production target very soon.
“The government is doing everything possible to get to where we should be and everyone is working hard to achieve this,” the minister said.(NAN)
