Senate Probes $300bn Missing Crude Oil

• The Nigerian Senate has received an interim report from Ned Nwoko’s ad hoc committee on crude oil theft, revealing that Nigeria may have lost over $300 billion to unaccounted crude proceeds linked to collusion, poor oversight, and sabotage in the Niger Delta.

The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday received the interim report of its ad hoc committee investigating crude oil theft in the Niger Delta, amid renewed fears that Nigeria may have lost more than $300 billion in unaccounted crude oil proceeds over several years.

The Senate attributed the staggering loss to a combination of industry collusion, poor regulatory oversight, and entrenched sabotage networks that have crippled transparency and accountability in the oil sector.

The probe, led by Senator Ned Nwoko (Delta North), was launched earlier in 2025 to investigate ongoing bunkering operations, illegal export activities, and alleged compromises within regulatory and security agencies — a decades-long problem blamed for Nigeria’s failure to meet its OPEC output quotas.

Presenting the committee’s findings before the Senate, Nwoko disclosed that investigators had uncovered “systemic irregularities, poor measurement standards, and weak enforcement” across the petroleum value chain.

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“The ad hoc committee should be given the mandate to track, trace, and recover all proceeds of stolen crude oil transactions, both locally and internationally,” Nwoko said. “Forensic reviews show that over $22 billion, $81 billion, and $200 billion remain unaccounted for.”

The interim report, which runs over 40 pages, includes sweeping recommendations aimed at tightening regulation, enhancing monitoring technologies, and ensuring transparency at production and export terminals.

“We recommend that the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) should strictly enforce internationally accepted crude oil measurement standards at all production sites and export terminals,” Nwoko added.

The Senate is expected to deliberate on the interim findings and grant the Nwoko-led committee expanded powers to pursue full recovery of stolen funds and prosecute individuals implicated in the billion-dollar oil theft scandal.