5,686 Illegal Refineries Uncovered In Three Years, Says Kyari

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr. Mele Kyari, said over 5,686 illegal oil refining sites were discovered between 2021 and January 2024.

Kyari disclosed this on Wednesday while speaking as a guest lecturer during the 2024 Faculty Lecture titled, ‘Energy Security, Sustainability and Profitability in Nigeria: Advances, Challenges and Opportunities’, organised by the Faculty of Science, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.

The NNPCL boss said the challenges posed by pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft have impacted the corporation’s operations, stressing that the establishment of a command-and-control centre has aided the detection and destruction of illegal refinery sites.

A statement by the NNPCL Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, quoted Kyari as saying, “The centre provides live streaming of surveillance data to security forces, contributing to the detection and destruction of over 5,686 Illegal Refinery (IR) sites and the removal of 4,480 Illegal Connections (ICs) from 2021 to the present.”

While acknowledging the severity of vandalism and oil theft, Kyari had hinted at a strategic shift, focusing on increased product trucking and storage in underground tankages at NNPC filling stations nationwide.
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