“NNPC Has Been Lying To Nigerians” – Navy Speaks On Fuel Scarcity, Oil Theft

The Nigerian Navy has accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), formerly known as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), of disseminating fake information concerning crude oil theft in the nation.

According to The Punch, Rear Admiral Solomon Agada said during a briefing with the Senate Committee on Economic and Financial Crimes at the National Assembly that the navy had addressed the causes of gasoline shortage to NNPC. Nonetheless, the business continued to disseminate false information.

Aguda went on to say that stealing 100,000 barrels of oil per day on Nigerian waters was impossible.

The Chairman of the committee, Senator Suleiman Kwari, questioned the Navy chief on why the country continued to experience cases of oil theft if the waterways were secured.

Kwari queried:

“The oil theft issue has been a very worrisome one to every Nigerian and more importantly, it has negatively impacted our economy. How come the Navy hasn’t been able to solve the issue of oil theft and if the Navy is claiming that the waterways are secured, why are there still cases of oil theft?”

Agada in his response explained that the challenge is that because of the criminal activity inshore by the illegal refiners in tapping into the export lines, those export lines have not been in operation since early this year.

His words:

“The major terminals have not been able to process fuel for export since around February/March and instead of the NNPC telling the Federal Government that this product is not brought out to be able to process as export, they say the oil was stolen.”

He also added that the stolen produce that we have been dealing with among illegal refineries is nothing compared to what the NNPC is declaring as being stolen. “If you’re talking about stealing 100,000 barrels a day, you need about five-tonne batches 20 times a day from the creek to the high sea, which is very unrealistic.

I told them at the NNPC that if that were to be the case, even a blind man would observe that something was happening in Nigeria’s waters and we are there on patrol and not seeing this.at the navy wanted the NNPC to reveal the difference between crude oil that has not been brought out and crude oil that has been stolen.

According to Agada, the NNPC had shut in some volumes of crude oil but reported that most of it were being stolen.

Agada explained.:

“Let’s get someone who can do proper analysis of these figures and we’ll find out that these claims are just bogus; there is nothing substantive about them. We have communicated appropriately with the NNPC. Even at our last interface with them, they agreed with us,but when they come to the public, they say oil theft, hiding the fact from the public.”

Why there is price increases Agada also said that the hike in diesel price was due to a decrease in the supply of diesel after the navy halted illegal bunkering in April. The naval chief claimed that some marketers who had been patronising illegal bunkering were now unable to do so.

He continued:

“People who have been doing this illegal business will confirm to you that since we started this special task force operation in April, their business has gone sour.

“This is also responsible for the increase in diesel prices in the country. Since we stopped the illegal diesel from coming to the market, the price has gone up because once there is high demand and low supply, the price will go up.

“People who ought to import will cut corners and buy the illegal products, but now that they can’t import and the illegal ones are not coming, this has reduced the quantity in the country. But somehow, nobody is coming to share this information with the people.”

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