Crude Oil Theft: Military Destroying Vessels To Conceal Evidence — Ned Nwoko

Senator Ned Nwoko, the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment, has raised concerns about the military‘s practice of destroying vessels apprehended for carrying illegal goods or stolen crude oil, suggesting it is an attempt to conceal evidence. Speaking in Abuja, he emphasized that the destruction of potential evidence in these cases makes little sense, unless there is complicity and compromise among those responsible for preventing such crimes. Senator Nwoko expressed his frustration with the apparent illogicality of the situation, stating, “What is the point? It does not make any sense. You know, if somebody is found in possession of stolen goods, do you say, oh, the way to deal with this is to destroy it? No. You take it from them, you document it, you preserve it, you charge the culprits. And then you produce that in evidence against them in court and then ultimately return that product to the owner.” As a member of the Senate Committee on Upstream Petroleum, Senator Nwoko raised the possibility that the military’s actions may be driven by compromises within their ranks. He explained, “Well, I think the military are complicit. You know the reason they do this, because some of them might have compromised. They have been bought over because to load this kind of commodity vessels – the crude – it takes weeks sometimes because of the size of the vessels, it takes time.” He further suggested that multiple parties may be involved in crude oil theft, including oil companies, producing companies, NNPC officials, the police, and more. Notably, Senator Nwoko observed a common pattern among personnel in joint task forces, where their rapid accumulation of wealth raises suspicions of complicity in these criminal activities.

Crude Oil Theft: Nigeria has lost N16.25trn in 11 years, says Speaker

Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas on Thursday said that Nigeria lost N16.25 trillion to crude oil theft between 2009 and 2020. The speaker said this while inaugurating the ad hoc committee to investigate crude oil theft and loss of revenue in Abuja. He said the menace of crude oil theft had hampered the growth of the country’s oil production, with between five and 30 per cent of crude oil production lost daily. He said that critical agencies in the oil and gas sector like the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Ltd, Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Ministry of Petroleum Resources among others failed to honour invitation. Represented by the Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Upstream, Al-Hassan Ado-Doguwa, the speaker said if decisive action was not taken to address the issue, the country may be thrown into a deeper fiscal crisis. This according to him is due to dwindling revenue from the oil and gas sector. Quoting data from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Abbas said Nigeria’s oil production declined from 2.51 million barrels per day in 2005 to 1.77 million barrels per day in 2020. He said “NEITI reports also show that 619 million barrels of crude valued at 46 billion dollars were stolen in the period 2009 to 2020″. He added that Nigeria had continually failed to meet its daily production quota as set by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). According to him, recently, Nigeria’s OPEC quota was reduced from 1.742 million barrels per day to 1.38 million barrels per day. “Yet, the country is still struggling to meet this quota as daily production output was 1.184 million barrels per day and 1.249 million barrels per day in May and June 2023 respectively. “On the average, current daily production output is a far cry from the budget assumption of 1.69 million per day. The implication is clearly manifest in the economic crisis that the country is facing.” He said the nation had been facing a major fiscal crisis, adding that global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine had continued to cast a cloud of uncertainty on the oil and gas industry. Al-hassa Runrum, the Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee said the volume of losses occasioned by oil theft in the country and its associated impact on the economy was unacceptable. He said this would not be tolerated by any government, who sincerely loves its citizens. He added that such act of sabotage and breach on the nation’s security and sovereignty makes a caricature of the nation’s pride “It is an affront on the government and its institutions, which must be tackled without further delay,’’ he said. He said the committee was determined to bring the ugly trend to an end otherwise there might be no future for “our children who have not yet “jappered’’ to other countries in search of survival.”

Nigeria still being fleeced 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily – Ribadu

The National Security Adviser (NSA), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, has disclosed that Nigeria is still losing 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily to local and international thieves despite efforts to end the menace. Ribadu confirmed this when he led a presidential delegation to inspect oil and gas facilities at Owaza in Abia and Odogwa in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers at the weekend. He said the activities of oil thieves and pipeline vandals had impacted negatively on the nation’s economy and were partly responsible for the rising cost of living in the country. “It’s unfortunate that few individuals would steal our common resources, and in the process cause unbelievable loss to both the nation, communities and the people. “Nigeria has the capacity to produce 2 million barrels of crude daily, but we are currently producing less than 1.6 million barrels due to theft and vandalism of pipelines. “So, we are talking about 400,000 barrels of crude oil going to waste with few criminals and economic saboteurs not even getting much out of it,” he said. Ribadu said the operators of artisanal refineries collect a small quantity of crude oil when they broke the pipelines while larger volumes of oil were spilled on the environment. “The value of 400,000 barrels of oil today is about 4 million dollars, and every day, we lose this amount because of this irresponsible behaviour. “If you multiply 4 million dollars by 365 days (one year), you will see that it is a lot of money running into billions of dollars. “Currently, the country is in desperate need of money as the Naira is continuously losing its value because we earn less money. “If we earn more money, it will not only help strengthen our currency but reflect in everything, including cost of living in the country,” he added. The NSA said that the President Bola Tinubu administration was concerned about the development and was already taking actionable steps to address the matter. He said huge investments made by the government in building infrastructures for the common good of all were being destroyed by few individuals, and in the process, destroying the environment. Ribadu called for a united front to tackle oil theft and end decades of attacks on the nation’s oil and gas infrastructures. “We are working hard with the security forces and those employed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to secure our facilities and end this madness called oil theft,” he said. On the presidential delegation with the NSA were the Minister of Defence, Baduru Abubakar, and Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa. Others included the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar; Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, and Minister of State (Oil), Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri. The Minister of State (Gas), Petroleum Resources, Ekperipe Ekpo, and senior management officials of the NNPCL as well as other top security personnel were part of the team. 

NAF destroys boats with stolen crude oil

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says the Air Component of Operation Delta Safe (OPDS) has destroyed boats laden with stolen crude oil as part of efforts to thwart oil theft in the Niger Delta region. Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, NAF Director of Public Relations, disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja. Gabkwet said the air component had on Saturday bombarded three boats carrying stolen crude oil at about four Nautical Miles South-East of Bille, a riverine area located west of Bonny Island and South of Port Harcourt, in Rivers. He said the boats were sighted tapping crude oil from a pipeline. He added that the crew also observed an active illegal refining site with tanks and reservoirs loaded with suspected illegal refined products, about 4 miles South-east of Idama also in Rivers. According to him, the site has been subsequently attacked and destroyed. “Air strikes against these economic saboteurs will be sustained until they desist from their acts of thievery and economic sabotage. “The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, has since directed all air component commanders nationwide to ensure they team up with other security agencies to sustain air strikes on all criminal elements in the country. “He said that days of treating criminal elements with kid gloves is over, saying that NAF must continue on the trajectory until they brought all of them to their knees,” he said.