- The federal government said it is set to track down the total oil outputs and vessels in the country
- The state minister for petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, made this known during the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit
- Kachikwu said federal government would also partner with anti-graft agencies to curb the lingering presence of oil theft in the country
The federal government has expressed its commitment to tracking down the crude oil output, adding that for the first time it could now ascertain the exact quantity of barrels of crude oil produced in the country.
Speaking at the ongoing Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) in Abuja on Tuesday, January 29, the minister of state for petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu, made the disclosure to Nigerians.
According to the minister, government was ready to form a synergy with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to track vessels responsible for lifting crude oil from the country.
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The minister, who noted that federal government had noticed gross irregularities in the vessels lifting crude oil, said data tracking mechanism has been deployed by the government to monitor the volume of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) brought by vessels into the country.
He said: “For the first time, we know what we are producing in this country. As to when it is being produced, barrel to barrel, we can tell. We can see even vessels that are coming into Nigeria and their activities.
''We have seen some vessels go to a location and pick some cargoes, leave that point, go to another point pick something else and return to the first location, when they should be heading to Port Novo or the United States.''
“What we are trying to do with the EFCC is to gather data and track these vessels, to determine the owners, why did they leave this point, what happened along the way, what is the dead weight of the vessels at the time they were leaving Nigeria and many more.
“So for the first time, we are going to soon be able to tell on a day-by-day basis all the activities that took place in the sector and those of the players. We are even going to extend it to the downstream.”
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Ibe Kachikwu, on Thursday, December 13, said that Nigeria would continue to struggle and face challenges in terms of ensuring stable fuel supply until the downstream sector of the petroleum industry became liberalised.
Kachikwu said that the country needed to find away to provide adequate petroleum products to sufficiently meet the needs of its citizens and at the same time to be able to free the sector for growth.
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