A total of 116.46 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, valued at N18.88bn was stolen in 2021, data from different reports obtained from Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited showed.

Figures contained in various NNPC reports on Product Pipeline Performance for PMS showed that from January 2021 till December last year, huge volumes of petrol imported into Nigeria by the national oil company did not get to their targeted destinations.

The products were lost through four pipeline segments including Atlas Cove-Mosimi and Atlas Cove-Idimu-Satellite, Mosimi-Ibadan, Ibadan-Ilorin and Port Harcourt-Aba.

For January 2021, a total of 6.371 million litres of petrol was lost through three pipeline segment, excluding that of Port Harcourt-Aba, as there was no pumping operation on the line in January.

The ex-depot price of petrol, according to the sole importer of the commodity, NNPC, was N143.17/litre. This implies that the worth of petrol stolen in January 2021 was N943.92m.

In February, March and April 2021, the oil firm lost 5.317 million litres, 5.722 million litres and 7.366 million litres of petrol, valued at N787.88m, N855.28m and N1.09bn respectively.

In May, June and July 2021, NNPC lost 14.157 million litres, 10.585 million litres and 9.329 million litres of petrol respectively.

The values were N2.1bn, N1.57bn and N1.38bn for May, June and July respectively.

The losses continued in August, as 8.583 million litres of PMS valued at N1.27bn was stolen; September, 13.92 million litres worth N2.06bn was diverted; and in October, 14.075 million litres valued at N3.31bn was lost.

In November and December 2021, the volumes of stolen petrol were 5.953 million litres and 15.085 million litres, respectively.

The NNPC put the value of petrol lost in November at N1.283bn, while that of December was worth N2.24bn.

A summation of the total volumes of PMS stolen during the 12-month period showed that the oil firm lost 116.46 million litres of petrol valued at N18.88bn.

NNPC has been the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria for about four years running. Other marketers of the commodity stopped importing petrol due to the hassles in obtaining foreign exchange for its import.

Also, the inability of the Federal Government to deregulate PMS has made marketers shun its imports, leaving NNPC to continue in the provision of petrol.

Punch