Nigeria lost crude oil valued at about N556bn between August and October this year due to pipeline vandalism, community interferences, sabotage of oil facilities, among others, latest industry data obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited showed.
Data compiled from the Crude Oil Marketing Division report of events that affected oil production in August, September and October 2021 indicated that the country consistently posted losses during the period under review.
In August, September and October 2021, the average costs of a barrel of Brent, the crude against which Nigeria’s oil is priced, were $70.75, $74.49 and $83.54 respectively, according to data from Statistica, a global statistical firm.
Crude oil volumes lost due to various production shut-ins caused by vandalism, sabotage and other challenges in August, September and October were 6,680,620 barrels; 6,362,700 barrels; and 4,824,946 barrels respectively.
At the official exchange rate of N411.95 to the dollar, the worth of the crude volumes lost by the country in August, September and October were N194.71bn, N195.246bn and N166.05bn respectively.
This implies that the value of crude oil that was lost by Nigeria during the three-month period was about N556bn.
This came at a time when the country’s debts had been increasing, with the Federal Government sourcing for funds by borrowing several billions of dollars.
Also, humongous sums had been spent by the government in its bid to service the country’s debts and so much have also been budgeted for debt servicing in the coming year.