Nigeria's state oil company is set to deploy drones to check the movements of ships in the country's waters in a bid to free Africa's largest crude producer from theft of the commodity within eight months.
The West African nation's pipelines had as many as 4,000 attempted attacks from June 2014 to June 2015 and 350 Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. staff members, police officers and other citizens have been killed in related events in the past three years, Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. Managing Director Emmanuel Kachikwu said on Tuesday.
"We are looking at the current logistical nightmares of changing staffing at the loading bay of crude oil export terminals virtually every 90 days," Kachikwu said in an emailed statement. "In eight months we must be able to deliver an environment that is free from the vices of oil theft."
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office in May, has pledged to clamp down on graft and "mind-boggling" theft in an industry that produces about 250,000 barrels per day. Crude provides Africa's biggest economy with about two-thirds of government revenue and 90 percent of export earnings.
Kachikwu was appointed head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. last month and has promised to conduct a forensic audit into the accounts of the company and review all contracts with its joint-venture partners and production-sharing agreements, as part of an effort to clean up the industry.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. last week canceled swap contract agreements with some companies for offshore refining of 210,000 barrels of crude a day after a review found them unfavorable.
Business on 09/02/2015