Press spotlights loss of N2.3tn revenue to oil theft in 12 months, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that Nigeria lost an opportunity to produce and sell about 65,700,000 barrels of oil in the last one year due to issues bothering on pipeline vandalism and the resultant oil theft is one of the leading stories in Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Punch reports that Nigeria has lost an opportunity to produce and sell about 65,700,000 barrels of oil in the last one year due to issues bothering on pipeline vandalism and the resultant oil theft.
This translates to about N2.3tn loss in oil revenue if the prevailing exchange rate and average oil price are used.
The Chairman of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Dr Osagie Okubor, said at the just concluded Nigerian International Energy Summit held in Abuja, said the 180, 000 barrels per day Trans Niger Pipeline had remained shut for more than one year- March 2022 to March 2023.
The loss from March last year to March this year brings total shut in/loss to about 65, 700, 000 barrels. Brent crude price averaged about $83 per barrel from March 2022 to March 2023, meaning the country could have lost as much as N2.3tr to the menace.
The TNP, a Joint Venture operated by SPDC is a major pipeline capable of transporting about 180,000 barrels of crude per day to the Bonny export terminal.
Speaking at the NIES, Okunbor said the TNP remained shut for one year due to the massive crude oil theft on the pipeline.
The pipeline, according to Shell, is part of the gas liquids evacuation infrastructure, critical for continued domestic power generation and liquefied gas exports.
He said, “What keeps me awake today as regards my onshore business in Shell is the fact that we cannot operate a pipeline, and that’s what is responsible for the 60 percent capacity. I think today that is almost just how much gas we can supply,” he said.
“And this is because one of our key gas infrastructures — the TNP — was shut down for one year; we removed 460 illegal connections on that line. We just reopened that line. Today we are struggling to catch up with our first programme.”
Okunbor said the loss was often viewed as affecting Nigeria’s oil production quota to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
The newspaper says that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has so far spent $1.1bn on the construction of the $2.8bn Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline project, the Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPC Ltd, Mele Kyari, announced on Monday.
He also said the pipeline would be energised by the third quarter of this year. Kyari spoke during the inspection of the facility in Akoho village, around the Lokoja end of the gas pipeline project in Kogi State.
“For the benefit of the Nigerian public, this is one of the most massive projects that we run in the company. It is of immense proportion of value to our country and the socio-economic growth of this nation.
“We know that this is a must-deliver project. This project has not stopped for one day. We have continued to fund it, despite the fact that we do not have third-party financing on this project. We have so far spent over $1.1bn on this project from our cash-flow.
“We are as very different company today. We are a commercial company. We have inter-company loans within our company now. This company can fund this project. So we do not need any support on this project. We will deliver this project,” Kyari stated.
He said NNPC Ltd currently owed no single dollar to its contractors, adding that it had paid all their invoices.
“There are over 30 sites that are active today in this project and we are very optimistic that we will deliver this project,” Kyari stated.
Last week, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, said the $2.8bn natural gas pipeline project was 43 per cent completed.
Osinbajo, who spoke through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation at a function in Abuja, had stated that the AKK pipeline was a major project of the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
Buhari inaugurated the AKK pipeline project in July 2020, where it was announced that the Bank of China and Sinosure, a Chinese export and credit insurance corporation, were to fund the $2.8bn facility.
Buhari had through a virtual conference, flagged-off the commencement of the construction work on the project at the Ajaokuta and Kaduna camp sites simultaneously.
The Guardian reports that President Muhammadu Buhari will depart Abuja for Accra, Ghana, today, for the third Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC) convened by President Nana Akuffo-Ado.
President Buhari is scheduled to participate in and deliver remarks at the high-level discussion on strategies to strengthen peace and security in the fight against maritime-related crimes in the region.
As the immediate past Chair of the Assembly, Buhari had championed collective efforts by member states of the region, the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), GGC and their partners to address and prevent piracy.
In June 2019, the National Assembly passed the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences Act, 2019 (POMO Act), which aims at preventing and suppressing piracy, armed robbery and other unlawful acts against a ship.
The President will be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj-Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd); the Director General, National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Amb. Ahmed Abubakar, among other government officials.
The newspaper says the Bank of Industry (BoI), Nigeria’s maiden development financial institution (DFI), was established in 1959 with the singular mission of transforming Nigeria’s industrial and private sectors by providing financial and business support services to enterprises of any size.
For many reasons, there were high expectations about the coming of the institution. First, the country was transiting from a colonial outpost of the British government. It, thus, needed to start building its independent financial infrastructure to drive its economic growth and independence as it were.
Also, Nigeria was at the cusp of the industrial revolution with a huge hole in financial services. Back then, the few available financial institutions were controlled by foreign investors who were not very keen onsupporting indigenous enterprises.
These made the coming more like a child of necessity. But for some years, it was like a stillborn, struggling to break through certain endemic constraints that held the growth of the local financial market. But in recent years, the bank has found its feet and coasting home not only as an enabler but as a formidable institution judging by its performance.
Indeed, it has continued to make socio-economic impact – creating jobs, supporting industrial growth and reviving businesses with single-digit interest funding – backed by its sound financial management system. This is seen in its consistent trend of appreciable growth in major financial indices year-on-year.
Last year, the bank surpassed its earlier superlative financial performance as it hit a total asset of N2.38 trillion in 2022 as against the N2 trillion mark set in 2021.
The growth indicates a 39.2 per cent growth when compared with the preceding year. This was achieved despite the macroeconomic headwinds that impacted the performances of many business organisations in the past two years.
This significant leap came on the wings of a successful conclusion of three landmark capital-raising transactions in the year. It raised €1.85 billion (about $2 billion) from the international financial markets – a seeming vote of confidence in its financial stability.
GIK/APA