At a one-day workshop organized by the agency in Abuja entitled: Metering and measurement in the oil and gas sector," he said that the problem of diversion of petroleum products is a serious one that has affected the level of trust of Nigerians on operators.
Ribadu said the quantity of oil lost yearly translates to 78 million barrels estimated at N1,216,800,000,000 (one trillion, two hundred and sixteen billion, eight hundred million naira) at US$100/barrel.
The workshop was attended by representatives of over 32 oil companies especially in the upstream sector, and provided a virile platform to brainstorm over what goes wrong in the sector and how to curb it.
At the centre of the discourse on the way out of the problem, which all participants agreed is a major drawback to the gains from oil and gas, was the Department for Petroleum Resources (DPR)
Ribbadu told reporters that the task of stopping the colossal theft must be tackled at all costs.
He expressed happiness that the key players have agreed that there is a need to face the challenge, which he said, emanates from the quantity disparity between the oil exploited and pumped into the pipeline and what was actually received at the flow stations.
Ribadu said that oil management is a matter of trust and must be hinged on that assurance from Nigerians that their common wealth is not diverted by a few, leaving the nation at a loss.
According to him, 30 per cent of oil theft is attributable to insecurity in the oil regions He said that other problems are poor metering or the intentional bye-passing of the adequate technology that would stop the trend.
The participants agreed that although oil companies contribute to the problem, but there is every need to strengthen the DPR through adequate funding to make it capable of putting in place the right technology for the work.
But the firms fought back, saying that integrity deficit in oil and gas is a worldwide problem, but still noted that it could be tamed through the use of automated metering and measurements at the point of extraction and reception.
They agreed that any quantity assessment still based on the manual system is prone to flaws. The oil operators therefore, called for enforcement by the DPR of the compulsory use of computerized measurement and metering by all stakeholders.
The DPR, however, said that of about 32 oil companies that have facilities for computerized and automated metering and measurement of crude products, only five actually make use of it real time.
Ribadu also explained that the platform was not for buck passing or apportioning of blames, rather a place to find a common ground to solve the problems.
He noted that although DPR might have failed in enforcing the compulsory use of automated metering, there are also areas the DPR faulted the oil companies for contributing to the general problem.
He assured that the forum would enable the stakeholders to deliberate and come to a common position on how to tackle the problem for the good of the operators and the economy.
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