(Ecofin Agency) - Oando Plc has revealed that attacks on pipelines in the Niger Delta over the past year have resulted in a revenue shortfall of about $750 million across all its joint venture operations.

The company has a joint venture (JV) with Energia on the Ebendo field which feed through to Forcados export terminal, with its biggest JV the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) near the Brass terminal which has been affected all year with disruptions.

“What we are dealing with are criminals hiding under the platform of social issues. So this equates to somewhere between 50,000 to 60,000 barrels per day (bpd of lost production), not just to us but all of the partners,” Pade Durotoye, chief executive of Oando Energy Resources told Reuters.

Nigeria's oil output plunged below 1.3 million bpd since the start of this year before rising again as militants, attack oil facilities and warned international oil companies not to carry out maintenance works, Reuters reports.

Durotoye added that a military solution to eradicate the criminals should not be too difficult to achieve.

“You are not dealing with an insurgency, you are not dealing with a whole region of people going out and breaking our lines - it is very few, in the hundreds so it’s something that can be very easily be handled,” he said.

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, met with leaders from the Niger Delta and representatives of militant groups after attacks on oil facilities in the region.

This meeting marks the first time Buhari has held talks since militants started a wave of attacks on oil pipelines at the start of this year.

The attacks have put four key exports streams under force majeure and made production to plunge.

Anita Fatunji