Crude Oil Theft: Nigeria lost N16.25 TN in 11 years- Speaker Abbas

The Speaker House of Representatives, Hon Tajudeen Abbas said, Crude oil theft has drastically hampered the growth of Nigeria’s oil production adding that, Nigeria loses between 5% – 30% of its crude oil production on a daily basis.

Abbas who was represented by the Chairman House Committee on Petroleum Resources Upstream, Hon Alhassan Doguwa stated this on Thursday in Abuja, during the inauguration of the House Ad- Hoc Committee investigating crude oil theft and loss of revenue accrued from oil and gas sector in Nigeria.

He said, data available through the yearly reports of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) show that Nigeria’s oil production declined from 2.51 million barrels per day in 2005 to 1.77 million barrels per day in 2020.

Doguwa also added that, NEITI reports also show that 619 million barrels of crude valued at $46 billion were stolen in the period 2009-2020 saying Nigeria has continually failed to meet its daily production quota as set by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

The lawmaker said, The House of Representatives is concerned that if decisive actions are not taken urgently the country may be thrown into deeper fiscal crisis due to dwindling revenues from the oil and gas sector engendered by crude oil theft while calling on all the invited government ministries, departments, and agencies; security forces, industry players, and civil society organisations to please accord the committee maximum cooperation that will facilitate their work.

The Chairman of the Committee,Hon Kabiru Alhassan Usman said,the volume of losses occasioned by oil theft and its associated impact on  the economy is completely unacceptable and cannot be tolerated by any government who sincerely loves its citizens adding that,the  way and manner this act of sabotage and breach on the national security and sovereignty is carried on daily makes a caricature of the pride as a nation and even a mockery of the acclaimed status of the armed forces.

Usman therefore appealed to all the invited stakeholders to work together with the committee to put an end oil theft