TUESDAY, 19th October, 2021: The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has said it had spent a total of N32.56bn on pipeline security and maintenance the month of February to July this year.
According to NNPC, the amount spent in February on pipeline security and management was N5.81bn; N5.32bn in March; N2.64bn in April; N5.26bn in May; N6.17bn in June and N7.35bn in July.
The data obtained from NNPC also stated that a total of 261 pipeline points were vandalised in the first five months of this year.
It also showed that the number of vandalised pipelines points rose from 27 in January to 54 in February. In March, 70 pipeline points were vandalised, representing a 29.63 per cent increase from 54 points recorded in February.
 A total of 64 pipeline points were vandalised in May, representing 39.13 per cent increase from the 46 points recorded in April.
The NNPC said the Port Harcourt area accounted for 65 per cent in May while Mosimi and Kaduna areas accounted for 30 per cent and five per cent respectively of the vandalised points.
It said, “NNPC in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders continuously strive to reduce and eventually eliminate this menace."
The corporation had repeatedly said product theft and vandalism had continued to destroy value and put NNPC at disadvantaged competitive position.
A total of 441 points on petroleum products pipelines were vandalised last year, compared to 1,484 points in 2019, the NNPC data showed.
The corporation spent N53.36bn on pipeline repairs and management cost in 2020.
The Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, said recently that the introduction of Operation White and the Automated Downstream Operations and Financial Monitoring Centre had made it possible for the corporation to monitor products supply and distribution across the country.
He said this had reduced illicit practices such as oil theft and cross border smuggling of petroleum products which used to cause dislocation in the supply and distribution matrix and huge revenue losses to the nation.