A destroyed refinery By Favour Ifeoluwa & Akinola Ajibade The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited( NNPCL) says it has destroyed 134 illegal refineries in the last few weeks. Also, the company said 63 illegal pipeline connections were uncovered during the the weeks . The corporation, In a visual report, stated that at about 2 am on Sunday, a joint team of security agents discovered a large wooden boat illicitly loading stolen crude oil from Barge AGS01 within the OML 18 operating area, noted intelligence report a large wooden wooden boat was caught receiving crude oil from the barge. According to the state-owned oil firm, while the barge was towed away with a tugboat in custody, five speedboats used in towing the large wooden boat to the illegal loading site were also detained and the particulars of the tugboats and barge used for the operation were reportedly seized for further investigation. It further said that two large boats, which involve
By Akinola Ajibade
The Federal Government is determined to end crude oil theft through the deployment of technology and additional security measures, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said.
The government, in a statement signed by his Special Assistant, Media) Mr Segun Adeyemi, (Media), said the Minister of Information and Culture, hinted this during a press briefing in Abuja yesterday ( Friday ) after the aerial surveillance of the Trans-Forcados oil pipeline in Rivers State.
According to him the government took the measures in order to achieve its desired objectives of tackling theft, adding that the continued campaign by the Government Security Agencies (GSAs) has led to the arrest of 210 suspects and confiscation of 20.2 million liters 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.
He said many vehicles, crude mining and bunkering equipment, such as speed boats, wooden boats, trucks and tankers, have also been confiscated.
He also 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 andseamless 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.
Alhaji 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.
He 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.
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