Nigerian Petroleum Company uncovers 4800 illegal connections to pipelines to siphon fuel

• Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, made this disclosure during an appearance before the Senate Committee on Appropriations last Friday
  

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) revealed the uncovering of 4800 unauthorized connections on oil pipelines across Nigeria.

Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, made this disclosure during an appearance before the Senate Committee on Appropriations last Friday.

He said, “We have over 4,800 illegal connections on our pipelines. That means in some lines, within 100 kilometres of pipelines, you have as much as 300 insertions. Therefore, even when you produce the oil, you cannot deliver them at the required pressure and therefore the volume will also be less.”

Lamenting the situation, Kyari said that people from other parts of the country come to insert illegal connections on pipelines in the oil-producing Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

According to him, the latest development came one year after the firm discovered 295 illegal connections to its pipeline.

Two years ago, Kyari said the country was losing 200,000 barrels of oil valued at $13 million daily to theft and vandalism.

“We have two sets of losses, one coming from our products and the other coming from crude oil. In terms of crude losses, it is still going on. On the average, we are losing 200,000 barrels of crude every day.”