By Festus Fifen

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) on Saturday lamented that production of 3 Million barrels of crude oil per day is achievable from the current 1.7million if not for the activities of vandals and oil theft.

This is part of the outcomes of the Stakeholders Engagement Session the corporate communications Department of NNPCL had with journalists covering the National Assembly in Abuja.

The Chief Corporate Communications Officer ( CCCO) of the oil conglomerate , Mr Olufemi Soneye said the feat is attainable with support from all stakeholders along the production and transportation corridor of petroleum products.

Soneye said the political will in that regard , is already provided by President Bola Tinubu with directives to relevant security agencies to stem the ugly tide of oil theft and pipeline vandalism which
according to him , led to an increase in daily oil production from 1.4 million to 1.7milliion barrels per day currently

In his words, “3 Million barrels oil production per day is achievable in Nigeria if all the stakeholders work in synergy for that purpose. from the security agencies which are the government and privately owned including efforts from oil companies and host communities.

“With expected synergy from all the relevant stakeholders on war against oil theft and pipeline vandalism, the required enabling environment would be in place for optimal oil production to the volume of 2.5 to 3 million barrels per day ”

He earlier lamented that at a point ,oil production went down to 900,000 barrels per day in the country before the involvement of private security agencies and renewed efforts of the military.

” At that time , we felt Nigeria was in trouble as far as oil theft was concerned but , the intensity of war against it has allayed our fears ”

However, in a power point presentation on the menace of crude oil theft and its impact on Nigeria’s economy by Deputy Manager, NNPC Command and Control Centre , Murtala Muhammad , he said the crime of oil theft remains a serious concern .

According to him , over 8, 000 illegal refineries and 5, 800 illegal oil pipeline connections were detected and destroyed within the last six months .

He listed Bayelsa , Rivers , Imo, Abia etc to be hot spots of the crime .

In his paper presentation on “Balancing Reporting and Nation Building : The Role of National Assembly Press Corps’, the resource person , Professor Taiye Obateru , emphasized on fairness and national interest in all stories .