The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said
the Federal Government “is determined to end crude oil theft through
the deployment of technology and additional security measures”.
The Minister, who made the remarks at a press briefing in Abuja on
Friday after the aerial surveillance of the Trans-Forcados oil
pipeline in Rivers State, said the measures taken so far have begun to
bear results.
“The continued campaign by the Government Security Agencies (GSAs) have led to the arrest of 210 suspects and confiscation of 20.2 million litres of AGO, 461.8 thousand liters of PMS, 843.6 thousand
liters of DPK, and 383.5 thousand barrels of crude oil.
“An additional 365 illegal refining sites were destroyed, with about
1,054 refining ovens, 1,210 metal storage tanks, 838 dugout pits, and
346 reservoirs destroyed by the GSAs.
“We witnessed first hand a number of illegal refineries destroyed by
our military in the course of our aerial surveillance,” he said.
Mohammed said many vehicles, crude mining and bunkering
equipment, such as speed boats, wooden boats, trucks and tankers, have
also been confiscated.
The Minister said private security contractors were also contracted to
provide local intelligence on all illegal crude ventures happening
within the region and security surveillance services for safe and
seamless operations along the nation’s pipeline networks.
“The new security architecture leverages collaboration between the
Upstream operators, Industry Regulators, Government Security Agencies
(GSA), and Private Security Contractors (PSC),” he said.
Mohammed said the NNPC Ltd. has now set up a Command and Control Centre for round-the-clock monitoring of petroleum operations
and activities within the Nigerian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ),
which ensures that all vessel movements within the Nigerian Exclusive
Economic Zone are monitored.
“In addition, all ship-to-ship activities within the Nigerian EEZ are
also monitored. Vessels without permits are flagged and escalated to
the Nigerian Navy for a prompt response. Production is also monitored
end-to-end at the Command and Control Centre, from the wellhead to the
export terminals,” he said.
The Minister commended the foresight of the NNPC Ltd by investing
heavily in deploying appropriate technology with capabilities beyond
visual line of sight for continuous surveillance.
He said the investment in technology has become critical because the
nefarious activities of vandals is causing Nigeria to lose
approximately 700,000 barrels of oil daily.
The Minister, accompanied by a team of journalists, undertook a 90-minute aerial survey that started from the Port Harcourt
International Airport to
Rumuekpe-Rumuji-Rukpoku-Ebubu-Bodo-Bomu-Bonny-Ahoada and back to Port
Harcourt.
