The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) on Friday, disclosed it discovered over 4,800 illegal connections on oil pipelines in the country.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, while speaking to the Senate Committee on Appropriations said: “We have over 4,800 illegal connections on our pipelines. That means in some lines, within 100 kilometres of pipelines, you have as much as 300 insertions.
“Therefore, even when you produce the oil, you cannot deliver them at the required pressure and therefore the volume will also be less.”
READ ALSO: Police Arrest IPOB Fighters, Recover Weapons, Biafran Currency, Others
The NNPCL boss added that people troop in from other parts of the country to insert illegal connections on pipelines in the oil-producing Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
The latest development came about one year after the firm discovered 295 illegal connections to its pipeline, a development that further amplified the massive crude oil theft in Nigeria.
Two years ago, Kyari said the country was losing 200,000 barrels of oil valued at $13 million daily to theft and vandalism.
“We have two sets of losses, one coming from our products and the other coming from crude oil.
“In terms of crude losses, it is still going on. On the average, we are losing 200,000 barrels of crude every day,” he had said.
