JTF arrests 2 Shell workers for oil theft

Two suspected surveillance workers of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) were arrested by soldiers of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta over oil theft. Maj. Michael Etete, the Spokesman for the 2 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, disclosed this in a signed statement.
Etete said the workers were arrested for breaking and tapping crude oil from an SPDC pipeline located at Kporgho in Gokana local government area in Rivers.
The Army spokesman said the two suspects had been handed over to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, the state command, for prosecution.
Etete called on multinational oil companies operating in the area to monitor its workers so as to aid security agents in its mandate of eliminating illegal oil bunkering in the region.

Nigeria Loses $7bn Annually to Oil Theft

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has said that the Federal Government as well as local and international oil companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria lose an estimated $7 billion (N1.05 trillion) to oil theft annually.

In its report, the 28-member agency said Nigeria’s crude oil production had dropped to the lowest level for more than two years in October 2012, due to the recent flooding in some parts of the country and widespread theft of crude oil. The IEA report noted that Nigeria’s crude oil output fell to 1.95 million barrels per day (mnbpd) in October, after production in recent months ranged between 2 mnbpd and 2.5 mnbpd. According to the report, the drop from September 2012 to October 2012 was around 110,000 barrels per day, with the country’s output falling to “the lowest level in around two-and-a-half years”.

The report however stated that by early November, production levels were recovering, with export loading schedules showing increased volumes for December.

Oil theft: Ex-Minister Arrested

Former Minister of Interior, Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho has been arrested over his alleged involvement in the hijack of a vessel said to be carrying suspected stolen petroleum products. The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA)  Mr. Patrick Akpobolokemi who disclosed the arrest  said that the search for the sponsors of these pirates has led to the tracing of the stolen products to Integrated oil and Gas Limited tank farm owned by the Captain Iheanacho. The premises of Integrated oil and Gas Limited tank farm has been sealed off pending investigation.

NIMASA has realized that there are the kingpins and the big men who facilitate piracy adding the agency in collaboration with other security operatives and the agency is poised to unravel the people behind the sale, purchase and storage of the stolen products.

Shell spent $383 million on security in Nigeria

Royal Dutch Shell spent almost 40% of its $1 billion global security budget between 2007 and 2009 in Nigeria, a pressure group, Platform, has said. The London-based body monitoring the oil and gas industry added that much of the money went to Nigeria’s security forces, which it described as corrupt. The oil major, according to Reuters news monitored by Nigeria Energy Intelligence, spent $383 million protecting its staff and assets in the Niger Delta region during the three-year period, according to company figures leaked to Platform.

Shell did not confirm the figures, but said it had to spend heavily because of the security threats. According to Shell Nigeria spokesman Precious Okolobo, “we have always acknowledged the difficulties of working in countries like Nigeria. Protecting our people and our assets is Shell’s highest priority,” adding that “the period this report refers to, the armed militancy in the Niger Delta was at its height, requiring a relatively high level of security spending there.”

Sabotage of oil infrastructure and the kidnapping of foreign oil workers have been common in the vast oil-rich mangrove wetlands of the Niger Delta in recent years, and although an amnesty for militants in 2009 reduced violence, massive oil theft persists.

Shell said about 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) out of Nigeria’s more than two million bpd oil output capacity is still being stolen by gangs who tap into pipelines and siphon off oil, some of which is sold into international markets.

But the funding of the Nigeria Police and military by Shell, the largest operator in Africa’s biggest energy industry, has brought criticisms from rights groups, who have also attacked its lack of progress on cleaning up decades of oil spills.