NNPC Reveals How Churches, Mosques Steal Nigeria’s Crude

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, has accused some churches and mosques of crude oil theft.

Mele Kyari, the chief executive officer of NNPC disclosed this barely a month after the personnel of the Nigerian Navy arrested a Very Large Crude Carrier, VLCC with IMO Number: 9858058 is a 336-meter-long tanker carrying stolen crude from Nigeria.

Oil thieves and pipeline vandals, according to government records have reduced Nigeria’s Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC production quota to 1.8 million barrels per day, and a consequential revenue loss of more than $7 million a year.

To stop the theft, the federal government has also recently contracted a firm owned by repentant militant Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo predominantly popular as Tompolo to stop oil theft, mostly in the oil bearing states of the Niger Delta

But the NNPC has now introduced a new dimension to the issue which before now was thought impossible; that religious houses are now used to steal crude from the pipelines.

Speaking during the 49th session of the weekly State House ministerial briefing at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Kyari said churches and mosques now harbours stolen petroleum products from pipelines connected to their premises.

The NNPC chief executive said a larger part of the nation’s communities, including security agencies are involved in the problem.

According to him, “When a fire outbreak happened in one of our pipelines, we discovered that some of the pipelines were actually connected to individuals’ homes. And not only that, and with all sensitivity to our religious beliefs, you know, some of the pipelines and some of the products that we found, are actually in churches and in mosques.

“That means that everybody is involved. There is no way you will take products, bring them in trucks in populated neighborhoods, load them, and leave without everybody else knowing about it. Everybody includes members of the community, members of the religious leaders and also and most likely government officials of all natures, including security agencies personnel.

“They are everywhere. And I’ve seen this even in the Niger Delta. There’s no way you would deliver a volume and lose up to 30% and you will continue to put those products in this line.”

The Federal Government had revealed that Nigeria lost about $1 billion in revenue to pipeline vandals and oil thieves in the first quarter of 2022.

Oil theft which can also be referred to as illegal bunkering, and not a new menace in the oil and gas industry, has become quite brazen and risen to an alarming level, with some oil companies disclosing that they lose between 80% and 95% of their crude oil production to the activities of these oil thieves