Nigerian Minister, Lokpobiri explains why fuel smuggling, pipeline vandalism cannot stop

Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri has said the twin problems of petrol smuggling and oil theft is caused by the products subsidy and corroded pipelines.

Lokpobiri disclosed this at the just-concluded Energy and Labour Summit 2024 organised by Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria in Abuja.

According to him, fuel smuggling from Nigeria to neighboring West African countries is striving because the Nigerian Petroleum Company Limited sells the product below the landing cost.

“Nigeria plays a very critical role in the energy security in Africa. That is why whatever PMS we import into Nigeria finds its way to the whole of West Africa. That is why smuggling cannot stop”, he said.

He added, “If NNPC imports PMS and sells to marketers at perhaps N600 or below, there’s no way that smuggling can stop”.

Buttressing his view on pipeline vandalism and the menace of oil theft, Lokpobiri said that most of the country’s crude oil pipelines were expired.

“The reason why pipeline vandalism is very easy to do is that the pipelines have all expired; they completely corroded and so, anybody can just go and tap it and the thing is busted.

“But there are better technologies which are more expensive, there are better pipelines that other people are using in other countries, but they are not cheap, We also need to change our model”, he stated.

Consequently, Lokpobiri called for public-private partnerships to fix the old pipelines.

“That is why we have to go for the global model – PPP. We have to get the private sector to come in”, he said.

In July, Nigeria Customs intercepted and confiscated a total of 41,425 liters of petrol from smugglers operating in the country’s border.

Recently, NNPCL announced that it destroyed dozens of illicit oil pipeline connections and uncovered 63 illegal refineries in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.