The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Thursday denied claims and invited a senate probe into alleged 48 million barrels of crude oil said to have been missing or stolen.
There have been reports recently that some ships sailed out of the Nigerian waters with the said amount of crude oil which was lodged and dispensed with illegally in China.
Speaking on the issue, the Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC, Mele Kyari, who was represented by the Chief Finance Officer, Umar Ajiya, described the report as “unfounded and total falsehood.”
He tasked the upper legislative chamber to carry out a forensic audit on the matter.
Ajiya said: “No ship leaves the country without clearance from the appropriate unit of the Nigerian Navy and there is no way any ship with such alleged stolen crude could escape from the Nigeria shore.
Speaking on oil production, Aliyu informed that the $21per barrel production cost NNPC is incurring on each barrel of crude oil, will soon be reduced to $13 per barrel in order to minimize production cost.
The NNPC official further explained that the basis for the projection of $40 per barrel as oil price benchmark for the N12.6trillion 2021 budget is based on available variables.
“Nobody can determine what oil price will be tomorrow which informs pessimistic thinking as far as such a parameter is concerned”, he added.
SOURCE: opr.news
