The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has reported that between October 7 and 13, 205 crude oil theft incidents were recorded across oil-producing locations in the Niger Delta region.
The company gave these figures during its weekly ‘Energy and You’ series on the NTA News Network.
According to the report, there were various illegal activities recorded during the 7-day period, including 62 illegal connections, 51 illegal refineries, 18 vessels with AIS infractions, 8 wooden boat arrests, 6 pipeline vandalism acts, 55 vehicle arrests, 2 illegal storage sites, 1 oil spill, and 1 vessel arrest.
The company confirmed that incidents took place across multiple locations, including Ohaji/Egbema in Imo state, Ughelli, Bomadi, Sapele, Ajatito, Obodo Omadino in Delta state, Omoku in Rivers state, various locations in Bayelsa state, and Ubauhu in Abia state.
Specifically, it reported that eight incidents occurred in the Deep Blue Water, 48 in the Western region, 95 in the Central region, and 53 in the Eastern region.
Despite efforts by the Federal Government to frontally tackle the oil theft crisis, including the award of contracts to former militants chieftains in the Niger Delta region, the incidents of crude oil theft remained unabated as millions of crude oil barrels are being lost to the criminals on a daily basis.
As expected, the ugly development has continued to negatively affect Nigeria’s crude oil and gas production, with the attendant implications for the country’s inability to meet its OPEC quota of 1.7 million barrels per day over the past months.
This is even as the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited is contending with militating challenges to meet feedgas supply requirements for its production and expansion plans.
