By Blessing Enechojo Abu
The Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has revealed that contrary to the widely held belief that crude oil losses are as a result of oil theft, at least 40 percent of the volumes of crude oil losses in the Nigerian petroleum industry are due to measurement inaccuracies and not theft.
The Chief Executive of the NUPRC, Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, in a statement released by the commission on Sunday.
According to him, after a forensic audit on crude theft numbers, conducted by the commission covering the period from January 2020 to November 2022, they arrived at this conclusion.
He added that the commission is committed to dealing with the issue of metering errors by ensuring that Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) licensed directly as agents of the commission will be responsible for the deployment and maintenance of metering facilities across Nigeria’s oil and gas facilities, for transparency in hydrocarbon accounting.
He said; “The reform measure adopted by the Commission offers a paradigm shift from the trajectory in Nigeria’s hydrocarbon measurement since oil was discovered in Nigeria in Oloibiri in 1956 and is aimed at ensuring that no one becomes a judge in his own case.
“Admittedly, one major area of value erosion in the industry is the menace of crude oil theft. Our records indicate that the menace of oil theft has negatively impacted the oil and gas sector for about two decades with attendant huge financial losses to our nation”.
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