NNPC Discovers Another Illegal Pipeline Used For Stealing Oil

With the discovery of yet another illegal pipeline used to steal crude oil from Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPC), in collaboration with Tantita Security Services Ltd., has made a significant advancement in its fight against crude oil thieves.

The finding was made last Saturday by Tantita Security Services personnel who were guarding National Oil Company assets in the Niger Delta's Western Corridor. The illicit connection was found on the 48′′ Forcados Export line, where it was revealed that crude oil was being routed to the NNPC/Chevron OML 49 WestIsan Platform.

According to information found on this page, OML 49 is situated in the northwestern Niger Delta. It is a component of the NNPC and Chevron Joint Venture (JV). The oil field, which spans a stretch of shallow water and a wetland, is the biggest block in the JV.

Reports also have it that there are more than 20 fields up for grabs, but the onshore Gbokoda and Dibi fields hold the bulk of the remaining reserves.

Through the ELPS pipelines, the oil block is a significant gas supplier to the domestic market.

The 48′′ Forcados Export line, where crude oil is transported, is where the unlawful connection was found last Saturday. This discovery is the most recent in a string of unsettling revelations that Private Security Contractors have recently reported.

Tantita Security agents ambushed a rumored oil syndicate on October 6 of this year, capturing the captain and seven other crew members in the process. The offenders were being apprehended as they were pouring crude oil from an unauthorized connection they had made to a Chevron pipeline in the Warri River.

A week later, investigators discovered a second unauthorized oil pipeline that had been used by thieves to take crude oil from Delta State's Forcados Terminal. Location of the illegal pipeline in Okuntu Community, which is a few metres away from the Forcados crude oil export terminal.

The illegal 6-inch pipeline was connected to the 48-inch Trans Forcados Export Pipeline connecting the high sea where crude oil is being loaded into vessels.

It was connected with the primary intention to steal crude oil from the main pipeline operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company and Agip. The distance from where the illegal pipeline was connected and where it was being used to load stolen crude oil into the ship is between five to six kilometers.

Forcados Terminal which was built in 1971 is located about 65 kilometers West of Warri Town and has about ten crude storage tanks.

So far, Tantita Security Services working in collaboration with NNPC has discovered over 58 illegal connections to the trans-Escravos, trans-Forcados, and other major trunk lines by oil bunkers in Delta and Bayelsa states.

The NNPC Ltd Group Chief Executive Officer, Mallam Mele Kyari had while speaking during a summit organised by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria two weeks ago said that through the support provided by the federal government, the country is making huge success in the fight against crude oil thieves and pipeline vandals.

He said the activities of vandals, if left unchecked, would destroy the oil and gas industry and ultimately frustrate the NNPC’s mandate of guaranteeing energy security for Nigerians.

He said, “The government security agencies in partnership with NNPC and other companies are on the table today because if we don’t arrest pipeline vandalism, we will have no industry.

“And more than anything else, it will completely question any possibility of energy security for our country. For NNPC, we are by law required to be the guarantor of energy security for this country. This is very broad, very tough and very demanding. It means that we must supply energy to this country in all its forms.

“And until we arrest the current situation of theft and vandals action, it’s very difficult to take the next step. I am glad to share with you today that monumental progress has been achieved and I can tell you that in the next couple of days maximum a week, our pipeline assets will come back on stream.

“This will no doubt provide the resources that we need to go back to work to reinvest and also provide resources for our country so that other infrastructure development in our country can be delivered.”

Kyari called for the support of all stakeholders in the oil and gas industry to stop the issue of crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism.

For those involved in this criminality, the NNPC Boss said that no one arrested will go unpunished.

Kyari added, “This is clearly an area that requires all of us. And whoever, anywhere, whether in NNPC, regulators, security agencies or wherever you are and whoever you are working for, as long as we know such people, please report at the portal because it is the enemy of all of us.

“Many of the connections that you have seen could not have been delivered except with the involvement of professional, it’s not possible. They are in our midst, the ones we know, we must put them on the table and that is what we are doing. We will spare no one in this action so that ultimately we can get back our assets.

“I am happy with the support we are getting from government security agencies and it is working. Also the involvement of private security is working and it has helped us.

“Many of the discoveries we made today could not have been possible without local knowledge and supporting the people who have been used to do so much and are used by criminals to do some of these things with very little things that they give them. Now, they are involved in protecting these assets and we are proud of these interventions.”