By Ayomide Otitoju
In the past week, no fewer than 221 cases of oil theft were uncovered across various communities in the Niger Delta region, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has reported.
According to the NNPC, incidents including illegal refineries, unauthorized connections, and pipeline vandalism were recorded between July 6 and 12. These incidents were documented across several locations in the Niger Delta region from various sources: Tantita Security Agency, Shell Petroleum Development Company, Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited, Maton Engineering Nigeria Limited, Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NNPC Limited Command and Control Centre, and government security agencies.
A video released by the NNPC revealed 94 illegal connections across several locations. Approximately 94 illegal pipelines were discovered in Rivers State and other states in the region. In Bayelsa State, an illegal connection was found on an Agip pipeline, which was subsequently removed and repaired, according to the state energy company.
The NNPC reported the destruction of 39 illegal refineries in Rivers and Bayelsa, with several illegal storage sites uncovered in Rivers, Imo, and Abia States. Oil spills attributed to vandalism were discovered in communities in Bayelsa and Rivers States.
On land, vehicles loaded with stolen crude oil were intercepted in Rivers and Delta States. On water, wooden boats carrying stolen crude oil were confiscated in Bayelsa, Delta, and Abia.
The incidents were reported to have occurred across various corridors: 125 in the central corridor, 57 in the eastern corridor, 24 in the western corridor, and 15 in deep blue water. In total, 14 suspects were arrested during the one-week period.
The NNPC emphasized its commitment to eradicating crude oil theft and noted that the war against illegal oil theft and the security collaboration on hydrocarbon infrastructure continued to make significant progress. The Federal Government and the NNPC reiterated their determination to end oil theft, which has deprived the nation of oil benefits and discouraged further investments in the region.
Oil theft has been blamed for dwindling oil production, preventing Nigeria from achieving its target of two million barrels per day. The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Dr. Ogbonnaya Orji, stated, “Figures contained in our 2009 to 2020 audits have put Nigeria’s losses to crude oil theft over 12 years at 619.7 million barrels valued at $46.16 billion or N16.25 trillion. Similarly, between 2009 and 2018, the country also lost 4.2 billion liters of petroleum products from refineries valued at $1.84 billion.”
Dr. Orji added that these losses and their negative effects on the economy led the previous administration to establish a special panel on oil theft/losses to address the situation.
