“How can we be losing over 95 per cent of oil production to thieves? Look at the Bonny Terminal which should be receiving over 200,000 barrels of crude oil daily, instead, it receives less than 3,000 barrels, leading the operator Shell to declare force majeure.
It had also stated that 32 illegal pipeline connections were uncovered, at the time the 52 illegal refineries were destroyed in the Niger Delta.
The NNPCL said the incidents were recorded as follows: 23 cases in deep blue water; 86 incidents in Western region, 141 incidents in Eastern region and 139 incidents in Central region.
Oil theft has resulted in the declaration of force majeure at the Bonny Oil & Gas Terminal and the shutting-in of various wells from fields that connect to the Nembe Creek Trunk Line and the Trans Niger Pipeline.
Oil theft was an emergency that posed serious threat to oil exploration and exploitation with huge negative consequences on economic growth, business prospects and profit earnings by oil companies.
Dakolo faulted the government’s current approach to fighting oil theft.
It also stated that international oil companies were massively shifting focus to alternative fuels, as the threat posed by the push for renewables was seriously gaining momentum.
Sources said that oil companies, oil bunkers, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPCL, and security officials jointly steal crude oil through the illicit pipeline connected to the trunk line through an abandoned pipeline by the Nigerians Agip Oil Company Limited, NAOCL, and linked to a location in the high sea, where they load crude oil into vessels and sell overseas.
The 4-kilometre (2.5-mile) connection from the Forcados export terminal, which typically exports around 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil, into the sea was found during a clamp-down on theft in the past six weeks.
In 2020, the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) said Nigeria’s loss to crude oil theft stands at $4.19 billion yearly. Reportedly, Nigeria is losing over 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day to oil theft, vandalism and other related criminal vices in the country. The implications, according to reports released by NEITI include loss of revenue, environmental disaster, a threat to regional peace and security, the proliferation of arms and a poor investment climate.
