Nigeria’s oil production hampered by theft

Nigeria is reinforcing security to tackle oil theft and the vandalism targeting its onshore pipeline and oil fields, but the issue is still far from being resolved.

In April, Nigeria recruited 1,486 personnel to boost internal security operations in the country’s crude production heartland, according to local media sources.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer with an average 1.8 million barrels daily. But attacks by armed groups and theft forced many firms like Shell and Exxon to sell their assets.

Theft cost the country 620 million barrels of crude, worth some $46 billion, between 2009 and 2020, DW said in a recent report, citing the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, an organization that promotes accountability in the management of the nation’s oil, gas, and mining revenue.

Nigerian oil and gas management analyst Aminu Ghandi told DW that oil theft is becoming very lucrative for perpetrators.