63 illegal refineries seized in one week – NNPC

According to information released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, 63 more illicit refineries were found and taken over in the previous week.

A documentary disclosed that efforts to combat oil theft were starting to show results.

The NNPC reports that between August 3 and August 9, approximately 177 incidents were reported by various incident sources, including four from Tantita Security Services, eleven from Shell Petroleum Development Company, 26 from Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited, 20 from Maton Engineering Company, one from NNPC 18 Operating Ltd, 51 from NNPC Command and Control Center, and 64 from government security agencies. 

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It stated that during the week in question, 19 illicit pipeline connections were located and confiscated, and some of them underwent repairs in a number of Bayelsa and River States areas.

According to the NNPC, 63 illicit refineries in the states of Delta, Imo, Rivers, Bayelsa, and Abia were found and taken.

It further stated that an oil wellhead in Bayelsa State had been found to be vandalized and obstructed.

It has been reported that oil reservoirs in Rivers State contained stolen crude.

The state-owned company reported that 17 car arrests took place in the states of Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom. 

It stated that in the states of Rivers and Bayelsa, fifteen wooden boats carrying stolen crude were seized.

51 of those occurrences happened in the deep blue sea, according to the energy business, 21 in the western region, 29 in the central region, and 76 in the eastern region.

According to the NNPC, during the previous week, at least 16 people had been taken into custody in relation to the occurrences.

According to The PUNCH, theft of crude oil continues to be a significant obstacle in the upstream industry, impeding the nation's capacity to increase output. 

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Tony Elumelu, the billionaire businessman, recently said that Nigerian security personnel and the government ought to be able to identify Nigerians who steal the nation's crude oil, particularly when those thieves use vessels that pass through the country's national seas.

According to him, the threat played a part in foreign oil corporations pulling out of Nigeria.

He claimed that after criminal gangs started stealing crude from his pipelines, he personally learned why foreign oil corporations were selling off some of their onshore holdings.

Elumelu stated in an interview with the Financial Times that 18% of the crude extracted from his field is still stolen by oil thieves. 

He explained, “42,000 barrels of crude are pumped out daily. Theft still takes away about 18 per cent of production.

 “This is oil theft; we are not talking about stealing a bottle of Coke that you can put in your pocket. The government should know; they should tell us.

 “Look at America — Donald Trump was shot at and quickly they knew the background of who shot him. Our security agencies should tell us who is stealing our oil. You bring vessels to our territorial waters and we don’t know?”

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