The Nigerian government has revealed that more than N4.3 trillion worth of crude oil was stolen in 7,143 pipeline vandalism cases over a five-year period. This disclosure was made at the Nigeria International Pipeline Technology and Security Conference, emphasizing the severe threat that oil theft poses to the country’s economic growth and the profitability of oil companies. The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) highlighted the urgent need to address this issue.
Key Points:
- Over the past five years (2017-2021), Nigeria recorded 7,143 cases of pipeline breakages and deliberate vandalism, resulting in crude theft and product losses totaling 208.639 million barrels valued at $12.74 million or N4.325 trillion.
- Nigeria spent N471.493 billion during the same period on pipeline repairs and maintenance.
- Despite the strategic contributions of the oil and gas sector to Nigeria’s economy, the country has not fully benefited from its resources due to oil theft, pipeline vandalism, and general insecurity in the region.
- Oil theft is primarily perpetrated through activities like pipeline clamping, illegal connections, exploiting abandoned oil wellheads, pipeline breakages, and vandalism of key national assets.