The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has deplored the recent increasein attackson crudeoil and gas pipelines stressingthat theEscravos-Lagos Gas Pipeline was vandalized with fourbreaksover the weekend.
The Group Executive Director Gas and Power ofthe Corporation, Dr. David Ige, who revealed this in a television interview in Abuja stated that the suddenincrease in the activitiesof saboteurs around the Trans-Forcados Pipeline and the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline in the last six weekshas robbed the nation ofseveral billions ofnaira to the detrimentof the national economy.
He disclosedthat NNPC loses between 50,000 and 60,000 barrels of crudeoil and condensateon a daily basis to pipeline breaks and that there appears to bea syndicate behind the economic sabotage.
The GEDstated that most ofthe power plants including the Calabar Power Plant, Alaoji Power Plant, Omoku Power Plant, and Olorunsogo Power Plant, among othershave been connectedto gas and that all the efforts ofthe Federal Governmentto construct unprecedentedmassive gas pipeline infrastructureare being sabotaged by pipeline vandals.
He lamented that between January and February 2015 alone, theTrans-Forcados Crude Pipeline was attackedand vandalized fourtimes, adding that none of the Corporation’s gas pipelines have been able to run two straight days without being brought down.
The NNPC GED said the Corporation was exploring a number of optionson how to tackle thepipeline vandalism menace ranging froman aggressive communityengagementto installation of technological gadgetsto stave off thevandals.
Dr.Ige notedthat each time a gas pipeline was broughtdown by thevandals, power supply acrossthe countrydrops which adversely affectseconomic activitiesacrossthe length and breadth of the nation.
He called for a holistic approach to resolve the pipeline vandalism scourgeranging from tighteningsecurityto expeditious judicial enforcementto bring to an end the menace which has deprived the countryof several billions of revenue.
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