TheCable

Horatius Egua, media aide to Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, has apologised to Nigerians and industry operators over a media publication error.

Egua, on Monday, released a statement quoting Sylva as saying major sources of crude oil losses were theft, pipeline vandalism, and decayed infrastructure.

Sylva’s stance followed a statement by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) that 40 percent of the volumes of crude oil losses in Nigeria are due to measurement inaccuracies and not theft.

In a statement on Tuesday, Egua backtracked, saying the publication did not get the approval of the minister.

He said the statement was a working draft which “should not have been released to the media for publication as it did not get the clearance of the minister”.

“The statement was not in anyway released to denigrate the reputation of the head of any agency or government official or to dispute the figures released by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC). It was released in error,” he said.

“I apologise for any discomfort or inconveniences the statement may have caused by it release.”