NNPC Considers Community Protection Model For Pipelines

THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is considering adopting the community-based security model for the protection of its gas and oil pipelines across the country, its Group Managing Director, Dr Emma Kachikwu has said.

Speaking while receiving the Ambassador of Canada to Nigeria, Perry John Calderwood! at the NNPC Towers, Abuja, Dr. Kachikwu pledged to give a lot of attention to the perennial menace of pipeline vandalism and oil theft.

“I intend to give a lot of energy to the issue of oil theft and pipeline vandalism. We must keep the losses from oil theft to the lowest figure possible. We must engage the host communities and inculcate in them the need to see the assets in their domain as their own,’’ Kachikwu said.

He noted that in the months ahead, the Corporation would initiate discussions with community leaders and interest groups with a view to fashioning a workable community-oriented pipeline protection format with less emphasis on the use of brute force to secure the lines.

On the state of the refineries, the NNPC helmsman solicited support from Canadian companies and service providers, stating that Nigeria could make do with Canada’s vast experience in refining and expertise in oil and gas operations.