The Defense Headquarters (DHQ) has said despite presidential directive, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) is yet to meter pipelines one month after.
The director Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba disclosed this on Thursday while briefing journalists on military operations
The Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Musa had on 16 July 2024 vowed to eliminate all acts of vandalism and other criminal activities throughout the South-South region.
Also the group executive officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari said
President Bola Tinubu had given a marching order to the Chief of Defence Staff to curb oil theft and vandalism in the Niger Delta region within the shortest possible time.
Kyari had after a meeting of all security and intelligence agency heads convened by Chief of Defence Staff,stated that achieving the desired economic stability would be impossible without curbing oil theft and other crimes
Further, on July 19,2024, the Nigerian Armed forces disclosed plans to enforce and ensure transparency by international oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region of the country.
Almost a month after, the Defence Headquarters said the NNPC was yet to meter pipelines to ensure transparency in the oil output.
General Buba said “It will be recalled that not too long ago, the Chief of defence staff was given a marching orders by Mr President to ensure that the nations crude oil production receives a spike so that we are able to meet our OPEC quota and the CDS followed up by saying that within the next two to three months well I’m pleased to inform you that already we have have recorded noticed increase, improvement in nations crude oil production and this is indicative of the fact that we are on the right track but we are not going to rest on our oars , we are going to sustain the momentum until the nation’s crude oil OPEC quota is reached and exceeded
He continued “It will be recalled that in rejigging our operations, we increased the surveillance over the pipeline infrastructures, we increased our cooperation with the Stakeholders in the oil sector, we also pushed for the metering of the pipeline so that we’ll know accurately what the nation is churning or on a daily basis.
While this have not yet been put in place
“I can say that for the surveillance of the pipelines and other military actions required in the area,we are receiving an increase in our crude oil production as it has been noticed and reported”
He said troops in the period under review arrested 23 suspected oil thieves and recovered stolen products worth N943,161,680.00.
General Buba added that troops also discovered and destroyed 84 illegal refining sites, 15 dugout pits, 17 boats, 62 drums, one receiver and 27 storage tanks.
Troops also recovered ; 32 cooking ovens, two outboard engines, two pumping machines, two vehicles, one tricycle, and three motorcycles .
The director said troops recovered 920,800 litres of stolen crude oil, 88,760 litres of illegally refined AGO and 7,500 litres of PMS.
He however,assured that troops will sustain the renewed vigour and momentum till crude oil production target is achieved and exceeded.