Oil pipeline vandalism hits 115% in July, NNPC raises alarm

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has raised an alarm on the increasing menace of oil pipeline vandalism, which hit a record high of 228 pulverized points in July.

The corporation disclosed to this on its July, Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR), released in Abuja on Wednesday.

It noted that the breached lines represented an increase of 115 per cent from the 106 vandalized points recorded in June 2019.

It noted that out of the vandalized points, 15 failed to be welded, while five points were ruptured.

The report noted that the Aba-Enugu axis accounted for 35 per cent of the breaks, while Port Harcourt (PHC)-Aba route recorded 22 per cent, with Ibadan-Ilorin layout hitting a 16-per cent mark.

Similarly, the report revealed that the Lagos Atlas Cove-Mosimi Zone logged 12 per cent with other other locations recording the remaining 15 per cent of the breaks.

On supply of products, it said that a total of 1.73 billion litres of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMP) also known as petrol, translating to 55.74m liters/day, were supplied for the month under review.

It added that the corporation would continued to diligently monitor the daily stock of fuel to ensure smooth distribution of petroleum products and zero fuel queue across the Nation.

On gas supply, a total of 730million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd) was delivered to gas fired power plants in the month of July to generate an average power of about 2,864MW.

The report also noted that a total of crude oil and gas export receipt of 390.33 million dollars was recorded in month under review as against 312.93 million dollars in June 2019.

It stated that contribution from crude oil amounted to 250.35 million dollars, while gas and miscellaneous receipts stood at 76.28 million dollars and 63.71 million dollars respectively.

The report, which is the 48th edition of the NNPC MFOR, indicated an improved trading surplus of ₦4.26 billion compared to the ₦3.92 billion surplus posted in June 2019.

“The increase of 3.62 per cent in the month is due largely to the enhanced surplus posted by the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), arising from half-year adjustments; coupled with increased surplus recorded by the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC),” it added.