Nigeria lost $2.78 billion to oil theft, pipeline sabotage, a drop by 21%

Nigeria lost N851.84 billion ($2.78 billion) to oil theft and pipeline sabotage in 2019.

This was disclosed by the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) latest oil and gas industry audit report.

The agency stated that it arrived at the estimate after using an average price of $65.61 per barrel and an average exchange rate of N306.42/$.

It, however, noted that there was a significant reduction of 21% from the previous year, where 53.28 million barrels were lost.

It stated, “Losses such as these are recorded by companies whose crude volumes are carried through pipelines easily compromised by saboteurs.

“Some oil terminals recorded no production. These included Aja operated by Bayelsa Oil, whose license was revoked by the government. Others were Asaramatoru and Oyo managed by Prime and Allied/CAMAC who were reportedly inactive for the year.

“Nigeria earned a total of N10.49trillion from crude oil and gas sales. This was a marginal 4.88% increase from 2018 revenues of N9.99trillion.

“The total crude oil production recorded was 735.24 million barrels, a 4.87per cent increase from 701.10 million barrels reported in 2018.

“A total of N2.145tn ($7.011bn) was the domestic sales proceeds in 2019 from 107.24 million barrels of crude oil. This was 0.36 per cent lower than the domestic crude sales of 107.63 million barrels in 2018.”

What you should know about NEITI

NEITI was established in 2004 as the key anti-corruption agency at the Presidency and is responsible for enthroning transparency, accountability and governance of the country’s oil, gas and mining industries.

In February 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the appointment of Dr Ogbonnaya Orji as the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), according to Nairametrics.

This follows the exit of Waziri Adio, who completed his 5-year tenure on Thursday, February 18, 2021.

This disclosure is contained in a statement which was issued by the Director Information Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Willie Bassey, in Abuja.