Vandalism threatening budget – Baru

The Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, says the 2016 national budget plan had been grossly affected by renewed militancy in the Niger Delta region.

Baru spoke yesterday during a visit to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Gabriel Olonisakin at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja.

He said the 2016 national budget plan was pegged on 2.2 million barrels per day of crude oil production, but that renewed militancy which tampers with about 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day had affected the plan.

He noted that critical national assets in the oil and gas sector had become targets of incessant vandalism, theft and sabotage, including about 8,000 kilometers of pipe line assets close to production of petroleum products and natural gas.

He added that over 20,000 kilometers of flow lines and other smaller pipelines across the country had also been affected, causing an estimated drop of about 50 percent of domestic national gas line supply to power.

Baru lamented the kidnap of NNPC personnel in their areas of operation, the high cost of operation, refinery shut down, fuel scarcity and large scale environmental degradation due to activities of militants.

He requested that the military facilitate deployment of its personnel NNPC operational facilities and provide support to corporate and strategic business units of the NNPC requiring security presence to operate.

In his remarks, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Gabriel Olonisakin said the military was still working to fine-tune a report by the Pipeline Security Committee. to