The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has intensified its fight against crude oil theft, revealing 223 new illegal connections and unauthorized refineries in the Niger Delta region.
In a brief video acquired by Channels Television on Wednesday, it was disclosed that the occurrences were documented from the 10th to the 16th of February 2024.
A detailed analysis revealed that 27 of the incidents took place at Matron Engineering facilities, 21 at Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited, 7 at Shell Petroleum Development Company facilities, 4 at Tantite Security Services Ltd, and 156 incidents were documented at facilities owned by government security agencies.
Further information indicates that 20 illicit connections were found in Okirika, Rivers State, as well as in Bayelsa and Delta States, alongside unauthorized refineries detected across various sites in Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, and Abia states.
In the video, sacks of crude oil were found in Warri, and containers of crude oil were confiscated in Edo State. Additional oil sacks were seized in Olobiri, Delta State.
Damaged wellheads and pipelines were observed in Bayelsa, and vehicles employed by the oil thieves were confiscated in Ole, Ugheli, and Warri in Delta State.
According to NNPCL, 52 suspects have been arrested so far.
On the geography of the incidents, the State Oil Company said 8 were recorded in deep blue waters, 32 in the western region, 123 in the central region, and 60 in the eastern region parts of the Niger Delta.
“For NNPC Limited, there is no backing down on the war on crude oil theft until the menace is eradicated,” the Chief Executive Officer, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, said.
The recent occurrences follow a period of challenges in the oil and gas sector characterized by relatively low crude oil production.
According to data from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) for February obtained by Channels Television, Nigeria’s crude oil production increased to 1.4 million barrels per day in January. However, the country has struggled to meet its OPEC quota of 1.74 mb/d for 2023 and 1.58 mb/d for 2024.
