Nigeria has lost crude oil worth over N2.453 trillion to theft within two years and four months, computation by Daily Trust on Sunday of data from petroleum industry reports has shown. Stakeholders have described the situation as a national emergency that needs stringent actions.
Nigeria lost N15.71 billion worth of crude oil in 2020, N1.67trn in 2021, and just from January to April 2022, the country has lost N623bn worth of crude, totaling N2.453trn in 28 months.
The 2020 Petroleum Industry Report released by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), indicated that at least a 39.16million barrels (mmbls) of crude, valued at N15.71bn as at then, was stolen, with an average loss of 107,293 barrels per day (bpd).
More so, data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited obtained in April shows that in terms of the financial loss to the country, in 2021, the total volume of crude oil stolen was 200,000bpd, amounting to 73m barrels of crude for the year. At an average price of $55 per barrel, the total loss for the year was worth $4.015bn or N1.67trn.
The NNPC data further showed that the volume of crude stolen had risen to about 250,000bpd, and at $100 a barrel oil price, the NNPC data estimated the loss at N623bn.
Read More: https://dailytrust.com/how-nigeria-lost-n2-4trn-to-crude-oil-theft-in-28-months
