The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited does not currently have the necessary funding to rehabilitate aging pipelines, according to a declaration made by the Federal Government.
At the recently concluded Energy and Labour Summit 2024, which was hosted in Abuja by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, this was said by Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil).
In his remarks regarding the divestiture of foreign oil businesses and the necessity of increasing output, Lokpobiri emphasized that Nigeria must also fix its aging, damaged, and expired pipelines.
He pointed out that the issue is how to transport the crude oil to the terminal, even if the nation is capable of producing over 1.7 million barrels.
“A portion of our issue stems from the fact that the pipelines that were formerly used to transport our oil were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s, and their useful lives have since ended. We’ve found that evacuation remains a major issue even in cases where production is feasible.
“Pipeline vandalism is very easy to commit because the pipelines have all completely corroded and expired; therefore, anyone can simply go and tap it and break it; however, there are more expensive but better technologies available, as well as better pipelines that other people are using in other nations, but they are not cheap. We also need to change our model.
Indonesian President Lokpobiri has called for public-private partnerships (PPP) to replace old pipelines, stating that NNPC lacks the funds to do so. He emphasized the need for confidence in the country for private sector investment, which has been lacking in the past 12 years due to a lack of foreign investment in the country’s oil company.
