Nigeria oil production has crashed to 1.15 million barrels per day due to rising cases of oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta, the Group Managing Director/CEO of NNPC Limited, Mallam Mele Kyari has disclosed.

He said the increasing rate of vandalism has caused massive disruption in oil production, noting it was the worst the country has ever witnessed.

The fall in production would be viewed as a major blow to the nation’s economy, especially the funding of the 2022 Budget which was benchmarked at 1.88 million barrels per day oil production.

Kyari disclosed this on Friday at the official presentations of Process Standardization ISO 22301: 2019 Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) and ISO 9001: 2015 Quality Management System (QMS) certificates to the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) in Abuja.

The event also had the formal launch of the Electronic Material Management System.

According to him, “As we speak now, there is massive disruption to our operations as a result of the activities of vandals and criminals along our pipelines in the Niger Delta area. This has brought down our production to levels as low as we have never seen before.

“Today, we are doing less than 1.15 million barrels per day simply because some criminals decided that they should have some infractions on our pipelines. That is clearly the biggest form of business disruption that we are facing today and this kind of engagements, the certifications that we have today around our systems and processes should be able to respond to this and part of the response is to bring in the best framework possible to contain the situation.

“Also, as we speak now, the Nigerian Navy is launching a massive operation to contain oil theft in the Niger Delta region to ensure that every asset of the Nigerian Navy will be deployed with the support of the industry and NNPC in particular to make sure that we arrest the situation”.

The NNPC boss noted that as the Corporation progresses towards being fully commercial in July this year, it was critical that its various businesses operate at internationally acceptable standards if it wants to be globally competitive.

He said the two ISO certifications point to the direction the company wants to go in line with global best practices.

Also speaking, the Chairman of NNPC Limited Board, Senator Margret Okadigbo while pledging support for the management team, urged the National Assembly to reduce the number of invitations to Corporation officials to enable them to concentrate on their jobs.

“I have told the GMD that next time they call you to the National Assembly, take me with you. When they see you come with your mother, then they will know that it is not the same thing”.

She said NNPC is focused on delivering value and dividends to its shareholders following the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

Earlier, the Group General Manager of NAPIMS, Mr. Bala Wunti explained that NAPIMS, with both certifications, became the first government agency to be awarded such in Africa.

Wunti explained that the Business Continuity Management System was developed by the agency to ensure that operational disruptions were avoided during challenging periods like the lockdown that occurred during COVID-19 pandemic. (Source: Vanguard)