The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it recorded 774 line breaks on its pipeline from Lagos to Ilorin depots, this year.

The Group Managing Director, NNPC Engineer Andrew Yakubu decried the unending incidents of pipeline hacking and product theft which is currently posing great hinderance to the efficient distribution and supply of petroleum products in some parts of the country.

Speaking against the backdrop of the recent line break in Ije-ododo community in Ojo local government area of Lagos State, Engineer Yakubu said if left unchecked, the nefarious activities of pipeline marauders could cripple the smooth operation of the downstream sector of the industry.

Engineer Yakubu who declared open the 3rd Triennial Delegates Conference of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association in Abuja, Wednesday said that less than one week after the vital system 2B was restored after extensive repair work on the ruptured Arepo point, the Corporation has been compelled to shut the line owing to Monday's attack on the Ije-ododo point.

He said: "We had over 774 break points since August 2012 from Atlas Cove to Ilorin depot. Between Atlas Cove and Mosimi depot, we recorded 181 break points, from Mosimi to Ibadan, we had 421 ruptured points and from Mosimi to Ore, we recorded 50 vandalized points. Also, between Ibadan and Ilorin we had a total of 122 break points."

He informed that though the NNPC is working hard to ensure effective distribution of petroleum products across the country through increased trucking, the trucking option comes with enormous cost which is totally unsustainable.

"PIB or no PIB, privatization or no privatization, no industry can survive under this kind of arrangement," he said.

Records indicate that with the incessant attacks on the nation's vast artery of pipelines, about 70 percent products distribution is through trucking or what is known in the industry parlance as bridging into the hinterlands.