MINISTER of State for Petroleum
Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, has said Nigeria’s crude oil
production had declined from 2.2 million barrels per day to 1.4 million
barrels per day due to pipeline vandalism.
This, he said, translated to
loss of 800,000 barrels of oil by the country daily.
The minister made this known at a
special session of the House of Representatives convened over the recent
petrol price hike. He condemned the incessant attacks on oil
installations in the country, saying “we declined from 2.2 million
barrels which was the focus of the 2016 budget to 1.4 million barrels as
of today’’.
He, however, expressed the ministry’s
commitment to ensuring that destroyed facilities were repaired and
effectively protected. “We are going to work hard to see how we will get
these issues resolved and get our production back,’’ the minister said.
Kachikwu restated the need to develop
infrastructure, which he described as “key’’ to promoting increased and
efficient crude oil production. “There are still a whole lot of things
we need to pay attention to; infrastructure is key, but we have not as a
country over the last 20 years invested in infrastructure in the oil
sector. Our pipelines are 35 years old and none has been replaced; we
have not been able to put gas infrastructure in place, our refineries
are next to comatose and old and we are working hard on them.
“Our critical facilities are at a
breakdown stage, so no serious infrastructure has taken place. No
country in the world will expect that the price system in the country
will benefit its citizens if it doesn’t invest in infrastructure. So,
the energy we put on PMS we need to begin to focus on building massive
infrastructure all over the country. I know how much efforts it has
taken to pump products from the south to the north, to the east and to
the west.