FG to commence crude oil tracking by 2019 – Kachikwu

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has said that the Federal Government would from 2019 begin tracking Nigeria’s crude oil and would be able to account for every drop of the commodity produced in the country.

Kachikwu disclosed this in a podcast and explained further that the Federal Government was already working with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), to develop an information technology (IT) platform that would make the crude oil tracking possible.

According to him, “There is the issue of crude tracking – how do we track every molecule of products we have, crude and refined products? We are putting together an IT platform that will enable us do this. We are working with DPR and hopefully, by 2019 the issues of whether we could not account for our crude will no longer occur.”

The Minister also lamented that infrastructure in the energy sector were old and dilapidated and that the Federal Government could no longer fund their revamp.

“Infrastructure is key to us. Our infrastructure is 30 to 40 years old; completely dilapidated, and cannot be funded by the government anymore. I am working with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the DPR to launch our infrastructure masterplan and bring people who can invest in them,” he said.