Reps raise concern over ‘missing’ $20bn worth of crude oil

The House of Representatives on Wednesday raised concern over 329.4 million barrels of oil worth $20 billion allegedly not accounted for between 2012 and 2019.

Peter Akpatason, chairman, House ad-hoc committee on oil theft stated this during an investigative hearing with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Abuja.

Akpatason said the committee had requested and obtained schedules of crude oil produced and lifting between 2005 and 2019 and after forensic analysis of the data, it discovered a very wide margin between what was reported produced and what was lifted.

He stated that: “Between 2005 and 2012, DPR reported production of 1,746,621,167 barrels from four (4) sampled oil terminals of Egeravos, Bonny, Forcados and Bonga. Out of this production volume, only 1,417,200,848 barrels were accounted for as having been lifted officially

“The committee through the analysis of submissions to the committee has raised issues requiring clarifications from DPR. These issues range from unprocessed crude oil, suspected stolen/diverted crude oil, discrepancies in records, use of inappropriate devices and technologies for measurement and gauging despite huge budgetary provisions”.

According to Akpatason, the ad-hoc committee was not set up to witch hunt any person or organisation but rather to identify and proffer a lasting solution to the lingering problem of oil theft.

The committee chair insisted that anyone found culpable shall be brought to face the law by the appropriate law enforcement agency.

“The effects of crude oil theft cannot be over emphasised, and this has lasted for too long. As patriots, it is our collective responsibility to see to the end of this stealing. The ad-hoc committee has identified the key role DPR as the agency of government in the sector hence your re-invitation today to enable us work together and come up with a common front on ways to tackle this matter if not completely put an end to it, reduce it to its barest minimum” he added.

In his presentation, Sarki Auwalu, DPR director/CEO, blamed the crude theft on third party interference, particularly at the land terminals.

He said: ”The problem is that we have 30 terminals in Nigeria and these terminals, five are land terminals. Most of the thefts are coming from land terminals because the land producers have to use pipelines to transport the crude into the terminals for export. In the process, you have a lot of third party interference in which those points of theft were there; small volumes that account for the larger volume are being taken and they are being stolen.

”So, most of the discrepancies in production and export, you can easily calculate the theft volume. And the theft volume, if not all, come from the land terminals. But the offshore terminals, it is actually practically impossible to steal crude from offshore terminals, since it is from the bottom of the sea.”