The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) reported via its official X account on Tuesday that 131 crude oil theft incidents were recorded in the oil facilities within 7 days of operations in the nation’s upstream subsector.
According to the report, during the one week period, there were 24 illegal connections, 43 illegal refineries, 17 pipeline vandalism acts, 23 vessels AIS infractions, 5 wooden boat arrests, 10 vehicle arrests, 4 oil spills, 3 illegal storage sites and 2 vandalism acts.
The company further reported that across the oil-producing areas of the Niger Delta region comprising Imo, Abia, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers states, an aerial photo shot showed that there were some illegal refineries located under trees.
The report also indicated that during the week under review, 21 suspects were arrested across the various locations.
The company further clarified that 10 of the crude oil theft incidents took place in the Deep Blue Water, 33 occured in the Western region, 43 in the Central region, and 45 in the Eastern region.
Over the past years, crude oil theft challenge has remained one of the factors undermining Nigeria’s crude oil and gas production such that for several months now, the country had been unable to meet the oil quota allocated to it by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) with the attendant negative implications for national development.
Specifically, data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) showed that in September and October 2023, Nigeria’s crude oil production was at 1.5 million barrels per day – the highest levels so far for the year but still fell far short of the 1.8 million bpd quota approved by the OPEC.
Similarly, the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited has not lifted the force majeure on the Bonny plant for over a year now due to crude oil theft incidents that had been negatively impacting feed gas supply. Available data on the company’s operations indicate that it has been operating at less than 50% of its capacity.
Meanwhile, the Special Adviser on Energy to the President, Ms. Olu Verheijen, has restated the government determination to frontally tackle the menace of the lingering the crude oil thefts and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region.
