Nigeria’s oil production drops to 3-month low, as illegal export shipping persists

Nigeria’s crude oil output slumped to a three-month low data from the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reveals. The production data from both bodies shows Nigeria’s average daily crude oil production stands at 1.018 million bpd. This falls short of the 1.249 million bpd it produced in June and the 1.184 million bpd it produced in May. Nigeria produced 33.5 million barrels of crude oil per day in July, which falls short of the 37.4 million barrels it produced in June and…

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$2.4bn Oil Probe: ‘Disclosure of Whistle-blowers’ details violate confidentiality’ – Malami tells H/Reps.

The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has said that disclosing the details of the whistle-blowers as requested by the Ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives investigating the alleged loss of over $2.4 billion in unremitted oil revenue, violates confidentiality. Malami stated this yesterday in Abuja when he appeared before the committee. The revenue is from the illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil export from 2014 till date. Chairman of the committee, Hon. Mark Gbillah, who had last week announced…

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OPL 245: HEDA accuse AGF of misleading Nigerians

…Urges Buhari to reject Malami’s advice A civil society  organisation, (CSO), the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) Resource Centre has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to reject the advice of the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to abandon the OPL 245 prosecutions in the country.  In a letter to the President, signed by its Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, HEDA argued that abandoning the prosecutions would send a signal that companies are insulated from prosecution where prosecutions are likely to interrupt significant but corruptly-obtained money flows. The group maintained that…

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Former DPR, NUPRC, attributes 40% of crude losses to measurement faults, not theft

Approximately 40 percent of the volumes credited to crude losses in the Nigerian petroleum industry are attributable to measurement inaccuracies and not theft as often reported. The Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Gbenga Komolafe, stated this at the Petroleum Club Quarterly Dinner, which was held in Lagos. Komolafe said the revelation followed a forensic audit conducted by the Commission between January 2020 to November 2022 on crude theft numbers, to ascertain with accuracy the stolen volume of crude oil within the reference period. Delivering his address…

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Criminal Enterprise: “We will expose those behind oil theft, loses in Nigeria” – PAP Boss, Ndiomu  

The Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, (PAP) Retired Major-General Barry Tariye Ndiomu has disclosed plans by the Special investigative panel on oil theft and losses in Nigeria to embark on a thorough probe that will unravel not only the incidences of oil theft and losses but those behind the criminal enterprise. The National Security Adviser to the President, Major-General Babagana Monguno (rtd), had inaugurated a special Investigative panel on oil theft and losses in Nigeria, chaired by the interim administrator of the PAP. Speaking shortly after the committee…

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H/Reps directs Petroleum Ministry, NNPC to expedite action on oil exploration in Bida Basin  

The House of Representatives has directed the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources to ascertain availability of hydrocarbons in commercial quantities in the Bida Basin, in Niger State. Adopting a Motion, sponsored by Sa’idu Musa Abdullahi during plenary, presided by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, the House enjoined the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited to conclude geophysical survey. The House also mandated its Committees on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) and Legislative Compliance to ensure compliance. Abdullahi (APC, Niger) argued that the call was in tandem…

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Buhari applauds NASENI’s tech drive to stop oil theft

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, applauded the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, (NASENI)’s drive to halt oil theft using technology, saying it is a legacy his administration will bequeath to Nigeria. This is as the agency, which was established about 31 years ago, said it was working to roll out high technology solutions to end crude oil theft and pipelines vandalisation, as well as aerial surveillance for rail-tracks monitoring, among other giant strides. Buhari, in his address at the commissioning of the Technology and Innovation Complex at NASENI…

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Oil-producing States squander N4tr domestic debt in 7 years – NBS, DMO

According to a recent National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) study on Nigeria’s domestic and external debt, the oil-producing States had a combined domestic debt stock of more than N4 trillion between Q1, 2022, and Q2, 2022. Analysis of statistics emanating from the Debt Management Office (DMO), the Federal Ministry of Finance and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) suggests that the oil-producing states across the country cannot account for about N4 trillion in their transactions over a period of seven years. Oil-producing States in Nigeria, which include Delta, Akwa-Ibom, Cross…

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Crude oil theft: Ship, 26 suspects risk life imprisonment – FG

The Federal Government said the ‘rogue’ vessel that entered the nation’s maritime environment on August 7 “without any form of authorisation” and 26 other suspects are standing trial before a Federal High Court in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, and risk life imprisonment upon conviction. A very large crude oil carrier (VLCC) known as MT Heroic Idun was reported to have entered the “Total Safe Anchorage operated (by) Akpo Field”, in breach of existing maritime laws and conventions. According to the Nigerian Navy, the vessel with overall length of 336-metres has the…

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Oil in North: Transparency issues becloud ‘one billion barrels’ discovery claim

With about seven months to the end of Muhammadu Buhari’s administration as President and Minister of Petroleum Resources, concerns are seriously rising over Nigeria’s exploration activities in the northern part of the country as well as a purported one billion barrels crude oil discovery made in the region. Stakeholders, yesterday, expressed worry over the secrecy in the development amidst transparency issues even as the details of a one billion barrels of crude oil discovered in the Gongola basin, located between Bauchi and Gombe remained only in the news two years…

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