By Michael Eboh & Ediri Ejoh
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, said the Federal Government has
commenced the tracking of Nigeria’s crude oil output and is currently working
with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to track vessels
lifting crude oil from the country.
Speaking at the ongoing Nigeria International Petroleum
Summit, NIPS, in Abuja, Kachikwu, disclosed that the Federal Government has
acquired the capacity to monitor vessels operating in Nigeria Adding that
already the monitoring exercise has spotted irregularities in the movement of
some of the vessels mandated to lift crude oil from Nigeria.
He said interim data obtained from the monitoring would help to determine the various loading points of the vessels, the dead weight of the vessels and the volume of crude oil lifted from the country.
He added that the tracking programme would be extended to
the downstream sector to determine the volume of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS,
also known as petrol, imported into the country; the quantity of the products
brought in by each vessels; the depots the commodity is stored, up to the
points of retail to motorists.
Kachukwu stated: “For the first time, we know what we are
producing in this country. As to when it is being produced, barrel to barrel,
we can tell. We can see even vessels that are coming into Nigeria and their
activities. We have seen some vessels go to a location and pick some cargoes,
leave that point, go to another point pick something else and return to the
first location, when they should be heading to Port Novo or the United States.
“What we are trying to do with the EFCC is to gather data
and track these vessels, to determine the owners, why did they leave this
point, what happened along the way, what is the dead weight of the vessels at
the time they were leaving Nigeria and many more.
“So for the first time, we are going to soon be able to tell
on a day-by-day basis all the activities that took place in the sector and
those of the players. We are even going to extend it to the downstream.”
Source. Vanguard News- www.vanguardngr.com
Comments
Post a Comment