The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, says Nigeria has recorded 1,600 cases of pipeline vandalism since January.
Kachikwu made the disclosure at the 2016 Annual Conference of National Association of Energy Correspondents with the theme, "Low Oil Price: Impact and the Way Forward", in Lagos yesterday.
The minister also said that the country recorded over 3,000 pipeline vandalism cases from 2010 to 2015 and added that the impact of attacks on oil and gas pipelines was that there was no money to fund the 2016 budget.
He said that militancy in the Niger Delta had destabilised the country's oil industry and that Nigeria needed to increase its production by 1.1 million barrels per day to meet its target.
The minister said that declining price of oil in the international market had negatively impacted the country's revenue leading to economic recession.
He said that proactive steps were required to bring Nigeria's economy back on positive track.
According to him, while vandals wreak havoc on oil facilities and cripple local production, over-supply of product in the market is affecting prices and creating shocks to the economy.
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