We’ve Witnessed Drastic Reduction In Crude Oil Theft With Private Security, Says Gbenga Komolafe

The Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe has stated that there has been a drastic reduction in crude oil theft since the engagement of private securities by NNPCL.

Komolafe in an interview on Monday night with ARISE NEWS, said the joint efforts of kinetic efforts implemented by the security forces and the non-kinetic approach by the commission have impacted the sector positively.

“I will say that having private security has tremendously helped in minimising the impact of the losses the nation has recorded in terms of crude oil theft.

“And of course, without the efforts of the security forces, you can imagine without that where would have been as a nation. So, we’ve witnessed drastic reduction in terms of volume of crude oil losses.

“Asides those kinetic efforts that are being made and that is impacting positively in reducing the impact of crude oil, is the fact that for us, as a commission, we are equally making efforts in terms of the non kinetic aspect to actually complement the kinetic effort.”

Komolafe also said the Commission at the moment is equally putting in place measures to ensure improvement in the hydrocarbon account in the nation.

This statement comes after the NUPRC on Monday, formally announced a rise in Nigeria’s hydrocarbons’ reserves as of January 1, 2024, with the country’s stock of crude oil jumping by 1.087 billion barrels.

 Komolafe spoke on the measures put in place to ensure that the commission’s efforts are not jeopardised

“Accurate metrics of production are very important. It is as important as ramping up, increasing the production. So, the Commission at the moment, one of the initiatives we introduced was to ensure the fact that we put in place a regulation we call measurement regulation and as I speak, the implementation of the provisions of that regulation has commenced that we expect to see the nation being able to have the digital monitoring of his daily production and that is very critical.”

Chioma Kalu

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