Russia’s second-largest crude producer, LukOil, is finalising its investment decision towards acquiring stakes in Nigerian oil fields.
This came as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Wednesday announced a 115 per cent increase in pipeline vandalism on its network.
A delegation from LukOil, led by the firm’s Vice-President for the Americas, West Africa and Europe, Ivan Romanovsky, disclosed the plans of the oil company during a courtesy call on the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, in Abuja.
The Russian firm also stated that recruitment for the field would be done locally so as to tap the vast talent in Nigeria, “as it expands its upstream portfolio.”
On his part, Sylva noted that the visit signalled the renewal of the bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Russia.
In another development, NNPC said the increasing menace of oil pipeline vandalism hit a record high of 228 pulverised points in July 2019 alone.
NNPC’s July 2019 monthly financial and operations report indicated that the breached lines represented an increase of 115 per cent from the 106 vandalised points recorded in June 2019.
It said out of the vandalised points, 15 failed to be welded, while five points were ruptured.
The report stated that the Aba-Enugu axis accounted for 35 per cent of the breaks, while Port Harcourt-Aba route recorded 22 per cent, with Ibadan-Ilorin layout hitting a 16-per cent mark.
Similarly, the Lagos Atlas Cove-Mosimi Zone logged 12 per cent with other locations recording the remaining 15 per cent of the breaks.
NNPC noted in the report that to ensure sustained supply and distribution of Premium Motor Spirit across the country, a total of 1.73 billion litres of the product, translating to 55.74 million litres/day, were supplied in July 2019.
In terms of gas supply, a total of 730 million standard cubic feet of gas per day was delivered to gas fired power plants in the month of July 2019 to generate an average power of about 2,864 megawatts.
According to the report, the total crude oil and gas export receipt of $390.33m was recorded in month under review, as against $312.93m in June 2019.
It stated that the contribution from crude oil amounted to $250.35m, while gas and miscellaneous receipts stood at $76.28m and $63.71m respectively.
The July report indicated an improved trading surplus of N4.26bn by the corporation when compared to the N3.92bn surplus posted in June 2019.
The increase of 3.62 per cent in the month was due to the surplus posted by the Nigerian Gas Company, arising from half-year adjustments, coupled with increased surplus recorded by the Petroleum Products Marketing Company.
