Contrary to speculations that attacks on oil installations have waned, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has traced loss of more than 54 per cent of crude oil to attacks and pipeline vandalism in oil communities.
Explaining issues during a recent mid-term review of the activities of the ministry between August 2015 and August 2017 through his social media platforms, the minister averred that “The country’s situation was worsened by the spate of militant attacks and pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta, resulting in the country losing over 54 per cent of its daily oil production, from about 2.2 million barrels to about 1.2 million barrels.”
However, he was quick to note that due to collaboration, intervention and partnership strategies adopted by the government to calm the restive community people in the region, “This has since paid off, with oil production increasing from 1.2 million bpd to 2.2-2.3 mbpd, including condensate.”
According to him, “Government had to start with creating ‘NNPC’s 20 fixes’, to create initiatives around issues of costs of business, restructuring, business focus, departmental independence and low morale of staff”.
“The ‘7 Big Wins’ initiative was to point at the direction the oil industry was to go in the next three to four years.
Kachukwu added that since the new National Petroleum Policy (NPP) was established, the medium to long-term parameters and targets for industry strategies and policies on oil resources, including oil reserves growth and utilization has shut up.
