Oil Thieves are Raking in Billions of Naira Daily, Leaving Oil Companies to Count their Losses in Tears
- In recent weeks the rising oil prices has escalated the amount of theft, and owners of oil and gas companies are no longer having it
- They are calling on the federal government to help as most of what they produced are stolen by unknown individuals
- Between 2016 and 2020, these faceless thieves have stolen a whopping 270 million of Nigeria’s commercial crude oil worth $14.6 billion
Two oil and gas Nigerian investors, Austin Avuru, former chief executive officer of Seplat Energy Plc and Tony Elumelu, chairman of the United Bank for Africa have raised an alarm on the amount of oil theft going on in the country.
According to them, over 80 per cent of Nigeria's oil production are stolen before they get to terminals.
They urged the Nigerian government to put a stop to the losses and help Nigeria reach its full potential as one of the largest oil-producing countries in the world, TheCable reports.
Source: Getty Images
The position of the two oil moguls reflects the recently released oil and gas report by Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, (NEITI) which revealed that over 270 million of Nigeria’s commercial crude oil production in four years (2016 and 2020) worth $14.6 billion.
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This was contained in the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, (NEITI) 2020 report published on its website.
Breakdown of srolen oil (2016 to 2020)
According to the report, a total of 39.162 million barrels of crude oil was lost in the year 2020. This is an average of 107, 293 barrels per day loss.
With crude oil averaging $41.68 per barrel in 2020, it would mean the country lost at least $1.6 billion to crude oil theft and sabotage.
In 2019, oil thieves stole 42.25 million barrels, averaging 115,753 barrels daily loss. This would mean a loss of $2.7 billion with crude oil averaging $65.49 per barrel in 2019.
In 2018, Nigeria recorded a loss of 53.28 million barrels of crude oil, representing a daily average loss of 145,972 barrels per day. At an average crude oil price of $72.58 per barrel, it would mean that Nigeria lost $3.8 billion.
The losses recorded in 2017 was 36.46 million barrels of crude oil, meaning a daily average loss of 99,890 barrels. In 2017, crude oil averaged $54.32 dollars per barrel, by implication, Nigeria lost $1.9 billion to theft and sabotage.
The highest loss was recorded in 2016 with 101.6 million barrels of crude oil lost, this would mean every day in the year, the country lost 278, 356 barrels to theft and sabotage, and potential revenue of $4.6 billion was lost. Crude oil averaged $46.07 in 2016.
Losses by oil companies
In 2020, Twenty-two companies suffered these losses with AITEO leading the pack with 2.8 million barrels lost, Belema Oil recorded a loss of 561,976 barrels while Waltersmt recorded the lowest loss with 442,084 barrels lost to theft and sabotage.
Russia threatens US, others of dire consequences if ban of its oil and gas takes effect
Legit.ng has reported that Russia is puffing warning to Washington and its European allies that if they should go ahead and implement a ban on its oil and gas, the ripple effects will reverberate across the global oil markets.
The country has threatened to shut down a major gas pipeline to Germany and said that oil prices will hit $300 per barrel if the West makes good their threats, according to a report by CNBC.
Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Novak said on Monday, February 7, 2022, that it is obvious that a rejection of Russian oil will lead to disastrous outcomes for the global market.
Source: Legit.ng
