Alarming Oil Theft Statistics!!!

Despite Nigeria's oil wealth, 90% of its
citizens live on less than $2 per day, a leaked report into Nigeria's oil
and gas industry has revealed the
extent of mismanagement and
corruption that is costing billions of
dollars each year. The report, seen by the BBC,was
commissioned by the oil minister in
the wake of this year's fuel protests to
probe the financial side of the sector. It says $29bn (£18bn) was lost in the
last decade in an apparent price-
fixing scam involving the sale of
natural gas. It also calculated the treasury loses of
$6bn a year because of oil theft. Nigeria is one of the world's biggest
oil producers but most of its people
remain mired in poverty. The Petroleum Revenue Special Task
Force report is one of several
commissioned by the government -
and follows an outcry after a
parliamentary investigation
uncovered a massive multi-billion fuel subsidy scam. That had been set
up after angry
nationwide protests in January when
the government tried to remove a fuel
subsidy. Earlier this week, a campaign was
launched to clean up Nigeria's oil
sector. It was led by Patrick Dele Cole, a
politician from the oil-rich Niger Delta
region, who said that 90% of the
stolen oil was refined in eastern
Europe and Singapore. The BBC's Will Ross in Lagos says this
leaked report exposes the extent of
the rot in Nigeria's oil and gas
industry - all the way from the
awarding of contracts to the sale of
refined products. It is staggering just how much money
the people of Nigeria appear to be
missing out on, he says. Nigeria's Oil Minister Diezani Alison-
Madueke declined to comment on the
specifics of the probe but said a
report compiled from several
committees set up earlier in the year
to investigate the oil and gas sector was in its final stages and would be
presented to the president soon. 'Total overhaul' The Petroleum
Revenue Special Task
Force, headed by former anti-
corruption chief Nuhu Ribadu,
revealed in its report that losses of
revenue to the treasury over
apparent gas price-fixing involved dealings between Total, Eni and Shell
and government officials. The report does not suggest the
companies broke the law but called
for measures to be put in place to
ensure all transactions are more
transparent. It said that oil and gas companies
owe the treasury more than $3bn in
royalties. For the period 2005 to 2011, it said
$566m was owed in signature
bonuses - the fees a company is
supposed to pay up front for the right
to exploit an oil block. The report looked at the issue of
discretionary licences which
companies do not have to bid for. Between 2008 and 2011 it found the
Nigerian government had handed out
seven discretionary licences, from
which $183m in signature bonuses
had not been paid. A Shell spokesman said the company
would not comment as it had not yet
seen the report. Our correspondent says it is well
known that oil theft is a major
problem in Nigeria, but the report
says it may be reaching emergency
levels as 250,000 barrels of crude oil
could be being stolen every day - 10% of annual production. The
leaked report said that small-
scale "pilfering" had been "endemic
since at least the late 1990s", but it
also said it had heard allegations
about thefts from crude export
terminals, tank farms, refinery storage tanks, jetties and ports.
"Submissions to the Task Force
alleged that officials and private
actors disguise theft through
manipulation of meters and shipping
documents," the report said. "Yet there is also evidence that
members of the security forces
condone and, in some cases, profit
from theft. The void in effective
security likewise appears to
increasingly hand over control of coastal and inland waterways to
undesirable elements." The investigation showed that 40% of
refined products - either refined in
Nigeria or imported - currently being
channelled through state-owned
pipelines are lost to theft and
sabotage. Mr Ribadu's investigation calls for a
total overhaul of the industry with an
oil sector transparency law requiring
all companies to report all payments
and publish all contracts and licences. The Task Force also wants a special
financial crimes unit to be established
specifically for the oil and gas sector.
Source: BBC News

Fellow readers, what's your take on this sad and alarming issue of oil
theft in our dear country?