40,000 barrels of oil still stolen per day – Uduaghan

Although, the Federal Government's anti-oil theft measures have begun to yield results.Nigeria is still losing about 40,000 barrels per day of oil to thieves, Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, said on Thursday in Abuja.

According to the governor, the volume of oil being stolen   has gone down considerably.

Uduaghan, who spoke to journalists at the end of a meeting organised by President Goodluck Jonathan with stakeholders in the health sector, the governor maintained that the volume of oil been stolen in the country is gradually reducing.

He said, “Let me emphasize that the volume of crude oil theft is reducing. Again, I must explain that at a time, oil theft was at its peak, there was a shutdown of about 300 barrel of oil as a result of damage to two major pipelines and at that time, between 80,000 and 100,000 barrels were being stolen.

“That was the time we took some measures to ensure that the quantity that is being stolen is reduced. Today, I can tell you that the crude that is being stolen is reduced to about 40,000 barrels per day. Those two pipelines are now functioning. So the 300,000 that was shut down as a result to the damage to the pipelines have now been opened.

“Stealing 40,000 barrels per day is still on the high side, but as we go further, in putting a lot of measures in place, especially in areas of prosecution, I believe that the quantity that is being stolen will gradually reduce if possibly bring it to zero level.”

“Apart from prosecution, we are also talking of technology and monitoring to deal with the oil theft