The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mr. Mele Kyari, has revealed that illegal refineries once supplied the entirety of diesel consumed in Nigeria.
He made this statement during an interview on Channels Television’s Business Morning program, where he discussed efforts to address insecurity and crude oil theft in the Niger Delta.
According to him, there was a period when diesel importation into the country was nearly zero, yet there was no scarcity of diesel, indicating that total consumption was sourced entirely from these illegal refineries.
According to him, there was a period when diesel importation into the country was nearly zero, yet there was no scarcity of diesel, indicating that total consumption was sourced entirely from these illegal refineries.
He noted that there were over 20,000 pits scattered across the region involved in crude oil theft; however, the scale of this activity has diminished over time due to the efforts of security agencies.
“When we started this process of deactivation in 2022, we deactivated 8,684 illegal refineries. They are not refineries really, just boiling points, we don’t know what name to call them. Then you have integral connections to the pipeline, we had 6,610 illegal connections to the pipeline, and we have removed about 5,913, which means we still have over 1000 that have not been removed and they are there, they connect every day that we remove
“At a point, you may not be aware, imports of AGO in the country were almost nil and there was no scarcity of AGO in the country. They are all actually boiling and at a point everywhere you go, it is the same AGO that is coming from these creeks that we are using all over the country,” he said.
He also emphasized that the federal government’s efforts, in collaboration with security operatives, have yielded significant results, as evidenced by the decline in the number of illegal refineries being destroyed across the Niger Delta.
The ongoing issue of oil theft in the Niger Delta remains a significant challenge, with military forces consistently uncovering new illegal operations each week. This situation poses a serious problem for the Federal Government, as Nigeria struggles to meet its OPEC quota amid widespread oil theft.
In 2024, Nigeria has consistently failed to meet its OPEC oil production quota of 1.5 million barrels per day, significantly impacting revenues and foreign exchange earnings.
