Over $53bn spent to secure oil facilities in 4 years

An expert in oil industry security, Austin Onuoha has said that over $53billion was spent by operators of the petroleum sector to protect oil facilities and personnel in the Niger Delta region between 2007 and 2011.

Austin Onuoha who gave the figures in Abuja while making a presentation at round table on business and security organised by Global Rights noted however that the huge cost could be drastically reduced if Nigeria embraced the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.

Voluntary Principles on security and human rights initiative (VPs), which was established in 2000, is a multi-stakeholder initiative involving government, companies and non-governmental organizations that promotes implementation of a set of principles that guide oil, gas and mining companies on providing security for their operations in a manner that respects human rights.

A breakdown of the figures showed that in 2007 about N444b ($3billion); 2008, $23.7billion; 2009, $24billion; and $3billion in 2011. agencies Onouha explained that oil giant, Shell, alone employs about 1200 internal police officers paid wholly by it while it also engages another 1300 armed security forces from regular government security.

Nigeria Loses $1.6 Billion to Crude Oil Theft Annually - Shell

Shell Petroleum Development Company has expressed concern over the activities of crude oil thieves and illegal refineries operators in the Niger Delta, saying that the country was losing $1.6bn annually to oil theft.

The company cited its forced shut down of the Nembe Creek Trunklines, NCTL, in Bayelsa State, a facility which produces about 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day and its declaration of force majeure on Bonny Light export.

This, according to the company, was to enable it remove crude oil theft connections, investigate suspected oil theft leaks and effect repairs.

Speaking at a workshop organised for media practitioners in Yenagoa, Shell Manager, Government/Community Relations, Evans Krukrubo, said over 90 per cent of its pipelines in the region had been ruptured by suspected oil thieves. He noted that the shutdown of NCTL production would impact negatively on Bayelsa's share from the Federation Account.

Ex-Militants Seize Crude Oil Barges in Ondo

Five crude oil laden barges had been seized by ex-militants in Ondo State led by Chief Bebopiri Ajube. The crude oil loaded in the barges was suspected to have been stolen by hoodlums, who burst the nation’s pipelines to steal the items somewhere in Delta State.

The spokesperson of the ex-militants, who is also the Operations Manager of Gallery Security Services Limited owned by Ajube, Mr. Ebi Molos, confirmed the seizure, while taking journalists round the seized items at Bolowo town in the Ese Odo local government area of the state.

According to him, the seized product was about 1.65m litres because “each of the five barges can fill up at least 10 oil tankers of 33,000 litre capacity each.” Molos added that his men also seized from the hoodlums, seven speed boats and 14 engines, which they removed from other people’s speed boats.

He said all the impounded items would be handed over to the government security agents after the preliminary investigations would have been concluded by his security outfit. He noted that his efforts was to compliment that of the Federal Government’s amnesty programme which had led to the full rehabilitation of 1,150 Ijaws and Ilaje youths, who  are currently enjoying the amnesty programme.

JTF Seizes 1,000 Tonnes of Crude Oil in Rivers

The Joint Task Force (JTF) operating in the Niger Delta said that it arrested a vessel laden with 1,000 tonnes of crude oil off the coast of Bonny Island in Rivers State. 
It paraded nine suspected crew members, all of them Nigerians, before journalists in Bonny.

The Two Brigade Army spokesman, Maj. Michael Etete, said the Nigerian-registered vessel, MT Atlantic Star, was arrested while illegally tapping crude oil from a pipeline.

He said the arrests, by troops of Sector Two in Bonny, followed a military intelligence report on December 29. He restated JTF’s commitment towards stamping out oil theft, illegal oil bunkering and other criminal activities within its area of responsibility in line with its mandate.
The captain of the vessel, Mr. Rauf Rasak, told reporters that the vessel was hijacked by six unknown gunmen who threatened to kill the crew members if he refused to cooperate with their illicit directives.

Rasak further claimed that the gunmen immediately took over navigation of the vessel, anchored it in Bonny and thereafter loaded the vessel with the illegal crude oil. The captain claimed that the crew was innocent of the charges being brought against them by the JTF.

Pirates kidnap five Indians off coast of Niger Delta

Gunmen stormed a tanker ship off the coast of Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, ransacking the vessel and kidnapping five Indian sailors. This came as the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta, codenamed Operation Pulo Shield raised the alarm over increasing involvement of foreigners in oil theft in the country.

The attack targeted the SP Brussels tanker as it sat about 40 miles (64 kilometers) off the coast of Niger Delta, Medallion Marine said in a statement. The gunmen, the statement said, stole personal belongings on board the ship in the attack and kidnapped the sailors. It said those remaining on board later sailed the vessel safely to a port in Lagos.

The attack on the tanker came the same day gunmen abducted four South Koreans and a Nigerian working for Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. in Bayelsa State.

Meanwhile, the JTF Commander, Maj.-Gen. Johnson Ochoga, who spoke in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, also called on the Nigerian Immigration Service to always monitor the activities of foreigners in the region. Operatives of the JTF, he said, had arrested 10 Indians and four Nigerians on board an oil vessel, MT ASHKAY, within Nigerian territorial waters.