We shut down refineries delibrately because we are unable to supply crude oil- NNPC GMDD

abujareporter Posted On November 27, 2020

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Mr Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), says the company delibrately shut down the refineries of nations because it no longer makes sense to run them.

The GMD revealed this when, on Thursday in Abuja, he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Upstream.

He said that the NNPC was unable to supply the refineries with crude oil, adding that it was only the pipeline that the NNPC struggled to retain through the contracting process.

According to him, operating the pipeline at its optimum capacity is extremely difficult.

“For instance, you need to deliver 170,000 barrels of oil per day to run the Kaduna and Warri refinery, so that both will operate at 70% capacity,” he said.

Kyari said that at the moment, there were only more than 5,000 kilometers of pipelines with 13

fuel depots, which according to him, had to be protected in order to prevent vandals from operating.
“And I can tell you today that except the Atlas cove to Ibadan line and also the Portharcourt to Aba line, none of these pipeline is serviced. The cheap one is to suggest that they are ancient, but the real explanation

is that the extent of vandals’ activities on these lines is disgusting, colossal and profound.

We repair 80 vandal points at any point within a month, the option is to shut them

down and what we have seen in Lagos is the product of getting one depot,” he said.”

The GMD reported that the vandals’ actions made it difficult for the pipelines to function,

adding that they had lost nearly N43 billion of petroleum products between January and June.

Kyari said that the NNPC had to engage security agencies to curb the activities of vandals in order to safeguard the pipelines.

He urged the House of Reps to adopt the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) urgently, adding that the adoption would attract investors in the industry.

Kyari said there would be hope for the petroleum sector by the end of December, adding that the NNPC would announce dividends for the Nigerian people.

He vowed to run the company with openness and accountability, adding that his audited report for 2018 and 2019 was released by the NNPC, which he said had not existed before.

Rep. Musa Adar, chairman of the committee, said the house had tried in the past to obtain the NNPC budget, but to no avail.

He said this was the first time that the NNPC budget would be presented to the national assembly, adding that to whom much is given much is expected.

However, Adar commended the House of Reps for ensuring that on Oct. 24, the PIB scaled through the second reading, noting that this was the fifth time that the PIB would be brought before the national assembly.

“Initially most of the problems are usually from the NNPC because no one wants his power taken away from him but I salute the GMD of NNPC,” he said..

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