Lagos — The rising violence in the oil-rich Niger Delta has continued to take its toll on Nigeria's revenue as the report by the Niger Delta Technical Committee revealed that the country has lost at least $23.7 billion to oil theft and sabotage in the first nine months of 2008.

The report, which also raised fears that the crisis may soon worsen is coming barely three weeks after the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) announced a shortfall in oil revenue from average N330 billion (US $2.2 billion) monthly recorded in 2008 to about N150 billion (US $1 billion) in January 2009. The Presidential Commi-ttee report obtained by Dow Jones news wire, stated that attacks on installations in the region resulted "in shut downs and spillages with consequent losses in revenue estimated at about $20.7 billion."

According to the Ledum Mitee - led committee "this amount (of $20.7 billion) is exclusive of another estimated $3 billion lost to oil bunkering (theft) over the first seven months of this year alone."The report, which was based on an average of 700,000 barrels a day lost during the months from January to September multiplied by each month's average Nigerian crude prices, also added that "there are unaccounted costs in human misery, with about 1,000 persons killed within the same period and another 300 taken as hostages."

Confirming the figures, Mitee, who is a political leader in Ogoniland said "If we were to buy peace, we would be spending less than what we are losing in the crisis". The committee was set up on December 1, by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to resolve the crisis in the Niger Delta. The report is yet to be made public.

Militants' attacks and crude theft since 2006 have resulted in the shut in of more than 500,000 barrels a day of production. Prior to the escalation of the crisis, Nigeria produced between 2.5 million and 2.6 million barrels of oil per day. The current production fluctuates between 1.6 and 2.2 million barrels a day.

The report had proposed an amnesty for militants if they are willing to disarm, an offer the militants have however rejected.But "judging by the level of angst we perceive, we share the views of those who believe that there is a looming danger that the present Niger Delta crisis could easily escalate. Based on the numbers disclosed, "the cost of failure is too enormous to contemplate," the report added.

The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Mohammed Bakindo, NNPC had at a recent meeting between the Senate committee on petroleum ( upstream) and stakeholders in the oil and gas industry announced a shortfall in oil revenue from average N330 billion (US $2.2 billion) monthly recorded in 2008 to about N150 billion (US $1 billion) in January 2009. This he said represents a 50 percent fall in the oil revenue flow compared to that of 2008. According to him the drop is occasioned by the slide in the price of crude which dropped from as high as N22,500 (US $150) per barrel in 2008 to as low as N6,450 (US $43) per barrel this year. "In terms of pricing, whereas in 2008, our crude strength averaged $97 per barrel, in the year 2009, as at January, the average basket is hovering around $43 a barrel," said Bakindo.

The GMD added that the decline in daily crude production from two-million barrels per day in 2008 to the current level of 1.6 million barrels per day, is taking a heavy toll on the economy. The NNPC group managing director observed that the slowdown in investment in oil and gas production, insecurity in the oil- producing Niger Delta and OPEC quotas are some of the key challenges facing the industry. Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation and the world's eighth-largest crude oil exporter.