Oil and oil product theft has become an existential threat to Nigeria. NNPC Group CEO Kyari: 95% of crude oil output at Bonny hub is lost to theft. Stolen crude oil products are now stored in places of worship such as churches and mosques. For decades, the illicit marketplace for oil and gas has plagued the energy industry. Around the world, rising energy and oil prices have been driving a rise in fuel smuggling. Just a few years ago, fuel smuggling from Colombia to Venezuela across the porous border became rampant, reversing decades of contraband flow of cheap Venezuelan oil thanks to acute fuel shortages in Venezuela and high oil prices. On the global scene, the UN estimates oil theft at 5–7 percent of the global market for crude oil and petroleum fuels, which works out to US$133 billion per year. But oil theft in Africa’s biggest oil producer […]