THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has raised an alarm on the increasing menace of oil pipeline vandalism which rose to 228 points in July this year alone.
Its July, 2019 Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR) said the breached lines represented an increase of 115 per cent from the 106 vandalised points recorded in June 2019.
A statement by the NNPC Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Samson Makoji, explained that out of the vandalised points, 15 failed to be welded, while five points were ruptured.
The report stated that the Aba-Enugu axis accounted for 35 per cent of the breaks, while Port Harcourt-Aba route recorded 22 per cent, with Ibadan-Ilorin layout hitting a 16-per cent mark.
Similarly, the Lagos Atlas Cove-Mosimi Zone logged 12 per cent with other other locations recording the remaining 15 per cent of the breaks.
The NNPC noted in the report that to ensure sustained supply and distribution of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) across the country, 1.73 billion litres of the product, translating to 55.74million liters/day, were supplied for the month under review. It added that it continued to monitor the daily stock of fuel to ensure smooth distribution of products and zero fuel queue across the nation.
In terms of gas supply, 730million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd) was delivered to gas fired power plants in the month under review to generate an average power of about 2,864 megawatts of electricity (Mw).
According to the report, total crude oil and gas export receipt of $390.33 million was recorded in month under review as against $312.93million in June 2019.
It stated that contribution from crude oil amounted to $250.35million, while gas and miscellaneous receipts stood at $76.28million and $63.71million respectively.
The 48th edition of the NNPC MFOR indicated an improved trading surplus of N4.26billion compared to the N3.92billion surplus posted in June 2019.
The increase of 3.62per cent in the month was due largely to the enhanced surplus posted by the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), arising from half-year adjustments; coupled with increased surplus recorded by the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC).