‘Cases of pipeline vandalism rose by 42.9% in October 2018’

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has expressed worry over what it described as increasing incidents of pipeline vandalism across the country.

According to the corporation, in October 2018, its pipeline network suffered a 42.9 per cent increase in vandalism compared to the previous month during the year.

Giving a breakdown of the incidents of breaches in its infrastructure, NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, in a statement yesterday, said the corporation recorded 219 vandalised points in the month under review, compared to 125 incidents it suffered in September of the same year.

Ughamadu said the findings that were captured in the NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report for October 2018 revealed that among the breaches, four vandalised pipeline points failed to be welded and one point was ruptured.

The report stated that cases of vandalism of pipeline facilities were high along Ibadan-Ilorin and Aba-Enugu axis, accounting for 81 (40 per cent) and 39 (18 per cent) vandalised points.

The NNPC spokesman said that despite the challenge posed by pipeline vandalism, the corporation kept an eye on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) stock level to ensure zero fuel queue across the nation.

The monthly report also stated that Nigeria earned $640.35million from the export of crude oil and gas for October, 2018.

The report said the total export receipt of $640.35 million recorded in October 2018 was higher than the $527.70 million logged in September 2018, expatiating that the receipt showed $450.44million accrued from crude oil sale with gas and miscellaneous receipts standing at $173.92 million and $15.99 million.

In the downstream sector, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of NNPC, posted a receipt of ₦231.33billion from sales of white products in October 2018 compared with ₦150.25 billion sold in September 2018.

Total revenues generated from the sales of white products from October 2017 to October 2018 stands at ₦2.684trillion, where PMS contributed about 88.32 per cent of the total sales value of ₦2.371 trillion.

To ensure continuous increase of PMS supply and effective distribution across the country, a total of 1.66 billion litres of petrol, translating to 55.50milion liters/day, were supplied for the month under review.

The report noted that out of the 1,066.88 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd) supplied to the domestic market in October 2018, about 627.33mmscfd, representing 58.81 per cent was supplied to gas-fired power plants to generate an average of about 2,349MW, compared with the September 2018, when an average of 615mmscfd was supplied to generate 2,303MW.

The balance of 439.35mmscfd or 41.19 per cent was supplied to other industries.

Similarly, for October 2017 to October 2018, an average of 1,188.58mmscfd of gas was supplied to the domestic market, comprising of an average of 744.06mmscfd or (62.60 per cent) as gas suppied to the power plants and 444.52mmscfd or (37.40 per cent) supplied to industries.

About 3,096.18 mmscfd or 89.58 per cent of the export gas was sent to the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG), Bonny.