The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL) has set a production target of two million barrels of crude oil per day in 2024.
The Chairman of the NNPCL Board, Mr Pius Akinyelure, who announced this, advocated a comprehensive overhaul of the national security architecture to address losses incurred from oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
He spoke after the official inauguration of the board and management team for the NNPCL by President Bola Tinubu at the Council Chambers of the State House in Abuja on Monday.
He said: ” We have assured Mr. President of our collective effort to ensure turn around in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.
“To make it a company we will all be proud of, a company that will help sustain the economy and create some level of prosperity for Nigerians.
“It is not an easy task, but we know we have the challenge of oil stealing, the vandalisation of our pipelines. Our commitment is to produce at the rate of two million barrels per day anytime from next year.
“But to do this, we have to overhaul our security architecture so that the incidences of stealing vandalisation of pipelines can be reduced. And this will possibly help to build up our cash flow. And we will become a better nation.”
The Federal Government revealed that more than N4.3 trillion worth of crude oil was stolen in 7,143 pipeline vandalism cases within a period of five years.
Oil theft has drastically hampered the growth of the country’s oil production with Nigeria losing between 5 percent and 30 percent of daily production.
About 619 million barrels of crude valued at $46 billion were stolen from 2009-2020. Nigeria has continually failed to meet its daily production quota as set by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Recently, Nigeria’s OPEC quota was reduced from 1.742 million barrels per day to 1.38 million barrels per day. Yet, the country is still struggling to meet this quota as daily production output was 1.184 million barrels per day and 1.249 million barrels per day in May and June 2023 respectively.
The only female member on the board, Dr. Eunice Thomas, said they are committed to increasing “productivity, improve the economy and sustain the environment.”
“We will provide power for the people of Nigeria; we will industrialize the energy and transit from fossil fuel to more sustainable green energy.
“I am really challenged. But I would like to begin by thanking President Bola Tinubu for finding me worthy to sit on that board.
“I am aware of the challenges and his expectations of the board. I agree with the management of the NNPCL, they’ve done quite a lot so far and we will be working together with pleasure to increase productivity, improve the economy and sustain the environment,” Persecondnews quotes Thomas as saying.
The board members inaugurated on Monday include Umar Ajiya as Chief Financial Officer, Ledum Mitee, Mr. Musa Tumsa and Mr. Ghali Muhammad as Non-Executive Directors.
Other Non-Executive Directors are Prof. Mustapha Aliyu, Mr. David Ogbodo and Ms. Eunice Thomas.
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