The National Assembly (NASS) has agreed on stiffer consequences for crude oil thieves and vandals of the nation’s critical hydrocarbon infrastructure in support of measures by the NNPC Limited to boost Nigeria’s crude oil production and grow its reserves.
On Tuesday, the National Assembly’s Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) resolved this during an oversight on the NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services (NUIMS), an upstream arm of the NNPC Ltd, at its headquarters in Lagos.
Jointly led by the Committees Chairmen from both chambers, Senator Eteng Jonah Williams and Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa, described the menace of crude oil theft and vandalism of critical oil and gas infrastructure as major challenges to Nigeria’s revenue generation and budget targets, which must be curtailed.
Senator Williams said the National Assembly needed laws to help stop crude oil theft and increase Nigeria’s crude oil production, adding that the discoveries at NUIMS will spur the legislature for decisive measures to help the government achieve its set targets in the oil and gas sector.
Hon. Alhassan Doguwa said by their duties as a legislature, the lawmakers will fast-track the strengthening of a legislative framework to be able to check the excesses bedeviling the nation’s oil and gas sector.
Doguwa, who commended NNPC’s efforts for its industry-wide security collaboration against the nation’s hydrocarbon infrastructure, said more needs to be done to ensure the company increases Nigeria’s crude oil production and grows its reserves.
He said the legislature will deploy the stick-and-carrot approach towards addressing the issue, noting the stick approach must be emphasised to rise vehemently against any encumbrance standing in the way of Nigeria’s economic growth and development.
The Chief Upstream Investment Officer (CUIO) of NNPC Ltd, Bala Wunti described NUIMS as a trustee of Nigeria’s upstream investments which ensures the country maximises returns through effective supervision of its Joint Venture (JV), Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) and Service Contracts (SC) operating partners.
Wunti, who commended the lawmakers for their consistent support to the NNPC Ltd, said engagements with the National Assembly are crucial as they will help the NNPC Ltd in the attainment of its mandate.
“We are here to see how the NASS will help us to be able to produce more barrels and deliver value to our shareholders. Increasing production is the new narrative and your support is needed to achieve our set targets based on our key principles of safety, speed, compliance and efficiency,” Wunti told the legislators.
He said so far, the industry-wide security collaboration against crude oil theft and vandalism of Nigeria’s critical hydrocarbon infrastructure through the four-way strategy of “Detect, Deter, Respond and Recover” has been instrumental in the recent restoration of some of the nation’s lost barrels.
* Media Report