Stakeholders reiterate concerns about insecurity in oil, gas sector

Energy experts have reiterated the urgent need to secure facilities, crude oil as well as people involved in the exploration and production of oil and gas in the country.

Theft, vandalism and threat to human lives now remain the new normal in the nation’s oil sector forcing the country to its knees in terms of production and revenue necessary to finance budgetary allocations.

Group Chief Executive at Vurin Group, Victor Ude in a chat over the development in Abuja, said ending insecurity in the oil sector remained sacrosanct.

Recall that in the first four months of this year, data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited showed that Nigeria was losing about 250, 000 barrels per day of crude oil to theft.

The development, which now denies the country from meeting prevailing production quotas and continues to deter investors, did not only bring the total loss to about $1.5 billion but has become the possible biggest threat to national development and the environment.

But Ude insisted that technology could provide leeway and offer succour to the distressed sector. Security is the major challenge in the industry right now. What we need to do is to leverage technology. Technology is one piece. We need to also collaborate to ensure that this works,” Ude said.

According to him, the country can leverage technology with necessary political support to fight crude oil losses, improve security and boost production.

He noted that it does make sense for a country like Nigeria to face scarcity of petroleum products, stressing that making refineries work remained critical while options must be deployed to shift attention from total reliance on premium motor spirit.

“We can encourage the use of electric vehicles. The way mobile phones transformed the telecommunication industry in Nigeria; it can be done with electric vehicles.

The reason I say that is that most homes are powered today by either a public power or by private generators and all those provide sources to charge the vehicles. So you can create a business model, private individuals can make it as a business model, to sell power to vehicles.

“We also need to be looking at ways to discourage the unnecessary use of fuel. When Covid-19 happened, we found ourselves staying home more often than not, today when we have fuels, we go everywhere, some things can be done leveraging technology, so whether it’s the workforce working certain days a week, all of those things can shrink the demand because the biggest problem why this (fuel scarcity) is exacerbated is because the demand far outstrips supply,” he noted.

Former President of Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Bank Anthony Okoroafor had said the government must declare a state of emergency on the challenges of crude oil theft, vandalism, security of lives and properties as well as general harsh business environment.

“It should be a national emergency given the contribution of oil to our economy,” Okoroafor said while stressing that “If we want this country to survive, if we want to be able to provide services, medical, education and other things for the populace, solving the challenges of theft and vandalism of pipeline must number issue.

Lamenting on the dwindling crude oil production in the country, Okoroafor insisted that it is not the role of the oil companies to solve those issues.
Energy expert, Michael Faniran, disclosed that one of the greatest challenges facing oil production and distribution and indeed, the oil and gas industry in the country has been the nefarious activities of oil thieves and vandals.

“This issue poses a huge threat to the economy of the country. Nigeria’s growth and development are linked to petroleum resources. Currently, crude oil exports account for 90 per cent of foreign exchange earnings and make up about 85 per cent of government revenue.

“Beyond the socio-economic impact of the theft, this also leads to a threat to regional peace and security and also a proliferation of arms, among other issues,” Faniran said.