‘Shell’s claim of daily loss of 10,000bpd to thieves’ indictment to Navy, NIMASA’
The latest revelation by leading oil and gas giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) Limited that it is losing about 10,000 barrels of oil per day from its pipelines to crude oil theft, has raised an issue of urgent national security importance.
The group had in a statement on Monday, cried out for help from government, communities and other stakeholders to stem the incessant attack on its oil assets in the Niger Delta, saying the joint venture has been losing on a daily average, about N202m.
Reviewing the alarm raised by Shell on pipeline oil thieves, many experts said such outcry places a serious burden of proof of relevance to maritime security and safety agencies including the Nigerian Navy, NIMASA, Army, the Police and even the Civil Defence plus all other myriads of uniform security outfits criss-crossing the entire creeks of the Niger Delta.
Experts said there is urgent need to redefine national security in the light of observed laxities and security breaches hitting the country in recent times.
Only two weeks ago, the western land borders were unilaterally shutdown just because of skyrocketing rice smuggling upon the presence of multiple national security outfits at the borders. Checks have shown that many manufacturing firms who distribute their wares across the West coast are now stranded at the Seme and Idiroko borders with Benin Republic just because of closed border to end rice smuggling.
Back in the creeks of the Niger Delta where national security agencies paid with taxpayers’ money, several oil firms are complaining daily of pipeline breaches and oil robberies.
Giving further insights at a media workshop on Pipelines Right of Way Encroachment and Vandalism held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, SPDC’s General Manager External Relations, Igo Weli revealed further that “These are critical national assets with 55 per cent government interest and they produce the crude oil that accounts for over 90 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange and the bulk of government revenue.
“Hurting these assets means hurting the nation’s revenue, the economy of the states, the health of the people and the environment.”
According to him, crude oil theft on the pipeline network resulted in a loss of around 11,000 barrels of oil a day in 2018, compared to about 9,000 bpd in 2017.
He recalled that 2012, SPDC had removed more than 1,160 illegal theft points on its joint venture pipelines in the Niger Delta.
Business Hilights recalls that earlier in June this year, the NNPC in its 2019 monthly report, hinted that there was a 77 per cent rise in oil pipeline vandalism and that 106 pipeline breaches were recorded in June, up from 60 in May.
