Oil Theft: FG Reports Arrest Of 210 Suspects

As part of its campaign against crude oil theft in the Niger Delta, the Federal Government has announced the arrest of 210 individuals.

After conducting an aerial survey of several hotspots along the Trans-Niger Pipeline's Right of Way, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, provided the estimate on Friday in Port-Harcourt.

The minister and several journalists were there when the Nembe Creek Trunk Line, which connects to the Bonny Oil and Gas Terminal and has been in the midst of a force majeure since March 2022, was also under surveillance.

After the 90-minute aerial inspection, the minister briefed the news media.

He also revealed that the ongoing operations of the government security services had resulted in the seizure of 20.2 Million litres of automotive gas oil (AGO), and diesel.

The minister reported that 383,000 barrels of crude oil and more than 461,000 litres each of dual-purpose kerosene DPK and premium motor spirit (Petrol) were seized.

Additional 365 illegal refinery sites, 1,054 refining furnaces, 1,210 metal storage tanks, 838 dugout pits, and 346 reservoirs, according to him, were also destroyed.

Mohammed claimed that vandalism and economic sabotage had negatively hampered Nigeria's output of natural gas and crude oil.

“Since the post-covid pandemic recovery of Crude Oil Prices, Nigeria has been unable to meet its OPEC Production quota, hurting the Nigerian Economy.

“Due to the nefarious activities of vandals, Nigeria has been losing out on producing approximately 700,000 Barrels of oil daily.

“This volume is split between crude stolen and production deferment (shut-ins) due to legitimate fear of losing substantial volumes in transit.

“Terminal receipts have persistently declined, leading to decisions such as the Force Majure declared at the Bonny Oil and Gas Terminal in March 2022,’’ he said.

The minister claimed that NNPC Ltd. has established a new security architecture to act as a strong reaction to identify, prevent, and respond to vandals' operations in order to check their activities.

He said that the coordination between upstream operators, industry regulators, government security agencies (GSA), and private security contractors was facilitated by the security architecture (PSC).

The minister said that Private Security Contractors (PSCs) with the necessary capabilities were hired in accordance with President Muhammadu Buhari's consent.

According to him, the PSCs were chosen and hired to offer community monitoring within the oil-producing zones after being thoroughly vetted by the DSS and EFCC.

Along with security monitoring services for safe and efficient operations along the country's pipeline networks, they are also required to give local intelligence on all illegal crude activities taking place in the area.

The Command and Control Center for NNPC Ltd. was established to provide around-the-clock oversight of petroleum operations and activities within the Nigerian Exclusive Economic Zone, the minister continued.

He claims that all ship-to-ship activities and vessel movements within the Nigerian Exclusive Economic Zone are closely observed.

According to the minister, the Command and Center have also introduced a number of online tools to encourage public involvement in the fight against crude theft.

The technologies comprised the Crude Sales Document Validation Portal and the Whistle Blowing Portal, which allowed patriotic Nigerians to denounce unlawful activity.

He claimed that the centre also has an application for incident reporting and management and is working on one for vessel reporting.

Mohammed reaffirmed that the federal government is committed to stopping the loss of crude oil.

The team that transmitted on the airborne observation in two Sikorsky S76D helicopters saw firsthand a number of illicit refineries that the military had demolished.

Throughout the surveillance, the crew observed high levels of environmental harm caused by the economic saboteurs' actions firsthand.