Nigeria says it will implement a security infrastructure similar to that of Saudi’s Aramco to protect its oil pipelines and salvage a flagging economy despite an oil price bonanza.
Crude oil production has fallen to just over one million barrels a day in Africa’s top producer, hobbled by large-scale crude oil theft that has gone on for many years and which is forcing oil companies operating in the country’s once lucrative onshore and shallow water fields o stop production.
Some others are taking to sending their crude oil via expensive barges that have become a logistic nightmare in the Niger Delta.
A huge portion of the crude oil put through the extensive but now leaky pipeline network is stolen according to some estimates by the government.
The new security architecture will be unveiled soon and will help stop massive oil pipeline vandalism that has resulted in the country losing 30% of produced volumes to crude thieves, Mele Kyari, the chief executive officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, said on Tuesday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Read also: Africa’s biggest oil producer struggles despite price bonanza
Africa’s biggest oil producer has been unable to meet its OPEC quota since the beginning of this year due to rampant theft and vandalism.
Output fell to 1.43 million barrels a day in the three months through June, the lowest quarterly production since 2016, according to the nation’s statistics agency. This was the third consecutive quarter of oil production decline in Nigeria and the country is no longer able to meet its OPEC quota.
With oil production lagging, Nigeria is dealing with a huge dilemma of higher spending amidst declining revenues and a debilitating debt crisis at a time when it cannot raise taxes because of tepid economic growth.
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