Uche Usim, Abuja
Despite its many inter-agency collaboration on security, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it recorded a 77 percent rise in cases of oil pipeline vandalism in its network of pipeline infrastructure across the country in June 2019.
The Corporation’s Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR) for the month, as released by the NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, reports that 106 pipeline points were breached, representing an increase from the 60 points vandalized in May 2019.
He explained that the Aba-Enugu axis in the system 2E pipeline corridor accounted for 25 percent of the total pulverized points, while the Lagos Atlas Cove-Mosimi axis of the system 2B had 23 percent of the compromised pipeline points.
He added that the Ibadan-Ilorin leg of the System 2B pipeline accounted for 18 percent of affected lines, followed by the PHC-Aba section of the system 2E, which was responsible for 13 percent of the affected pipeline, adding that other areas accounted for the remaining 21 percent of cumulative line breaks.
The monthly report, which is part of the Corporation’s strategy to open its operations, activities and finances to the public, stated that in spite of the wanton breaches of it critical pipeline network during the period, it has ensured continuous fuel supply and effective distribution across the country, saying that during the month under review, 1.76bn litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), translating to 58.65 million liters/day were supplied and effectively distributed.
It noted that to sustain adequate products supply and distribution in the downstream sector, the NNPC had continued to monitor the daily stock of PMS across the country.
In the gas sub-sector, the June report stated that 223.98 billion Cubic Feet (BCF) of natural gas was produced in the month under review, translating to an average daily production of 7,466.09 million Standard Cubic Feet Per Day (mmscfd). The figure posted a slight increase of 0.11 percent compared with the previous month’s gas production.
For the period June 2018 to June 2019, a total of 3,063.89BCF of gas was produced, representing an average daily production of 7,873.58 mmscfd during the period.
Period-to-date Production from Joint Ventures (JVs), Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) and NPDC contributed about 68.93 percent, 21.34 percent and 9.74 percent, respectively, to the total national gas production.
The June 2019 MFOR was the 47th in the series.