Nigeria Loses N312B to Crude Oil Theft Yearly – Oyagha

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CRUDE

About $2 billion (N314 billion equivalents) is lost every year to crude oil theft, Rear Admiral Austin Oyagha, Chief of Training and Operations, Nigerian Navy has said, yesterday.

Oyagha made the disclosure at the Navy Week 2014 in Calabar when he spoke during a lecture titled: “Harnessing Surveillance Technology in Support of Anti-Crude Oil Theft Operations in Nigeria”.
He described the situation as regrettable, saying it is making the country to lose staggering income. This is just as the Chairman of Senate Committee on Navy, Senator Chris Anyanwu, lamented the heavy losses occasioned by the oil theft, warning that Nigeria may not become a member of the global top 20 economy if oil theft persisted.

Rear Adm. Oyagha called on the authorities to pay more attention to surveillance activities with a view to enhancing the Nigerian Navy anti-crude oil theft operations.

He explained that in 2013, losses from crude oil theft averaged about 55,210 barrels per day and 1,656,281 barrels monthly.

He said: “Oil losses due to crude oil theft translate into almost $2 billion yearly in deficit to Nigeria’s economy.
“The losses do not only undermine Nigeria’s economy in terms of foreign exchange deficit, they also pose a threat to national security for Nigerians, with potential risk to foreign direct investment in this emerging market.”

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Oyagha said that crude oil losses in Nigeria were primarily due to pipeline vandalism and operation of illegal refineries.

He advocated for an integrated surveillance system for anti-crude oil theft operations with features to detect, monitor, track and display activities in all weathers.