It is incontrovertible that the downstream sector of the petroleum industry has been on the brinks of collapse for some years. The Federal Government, through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, had been able to significantly sustain the supply of petroleum products to the populace, but at a very huge cost, which by all reckoning is unsustainable.
Until now, it seems the government has been fighting vandalism with child’s gloves despite the enormous loss of lives, properties and revenues recorded over the years through the activities of pipeline vandals.
Besides, the pains Nigerians go through searching or waiting for fuel at filling stations whenever the commodity is scarce, is unquantifiable. Therefore, application of technology and some complex systems toward guarding the pipelines and making them difficult for vandals to access should be fully supported and funded by the Federal Government, even though the funds might look so huge in the short term. But this would be good economic decision in the long term.
Losses to vandalism
The Managing Director of Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of NNPC, Prince Haruna Momoh, made startling revelations during recently during a visit of the NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Andy Yakubu to Arepo – a community in Ogun State, which lately became a haven for oil thieves and pipeline vandals. The visit was centred on finding a lasting solution to pipeline vandalism and continued loss of products to vandals, which has led to loss of lives, properties and degradation of the environment in the event of explosion.
Momoh said the PPMC has a total of 258 storage tanks of various sizes spread nationwide with a total holding capacity of 2.6 billion litres and 5120-kilometre pipeline network across the country. These he said, are more than enough for Nigerians not to experience fuel scarcity. But he noted that these facilities were to a very large extent rendered useless by the activities of vandals and oil thieves, hence the occurrence and reoccurrence of fuel scarcity with the attendant suffering caused Nigerians.
Products
Momoh also noted that between 2009 and end of December 2012, the NNPC alone lost about N165 billion to products theft and repairs of vandalised pipes For instance, while data from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) showed the PPMC lost 20 metric tonnes of products between 1999 and March 2006 to activities of vandals, records show that in 2005, the cost of petroleum products lost to vandalism was put at N12 billion, while between January and May 2006, the loss was put at N7.07 billion.
The NNPC boss also said the corporation loses about N600 million worth of fuel monthly to vandals through the Arepo axis (System 2B pipeline) alone.
Casualities
Besides loss of products, over 2500 lives have been lost to explosions from vandalised pipes in last 15 years. Sometimes, the exact figures of casualties were not got in the event of fire outbreaks while some incidents were not reported. In 2000, over 1000 lives were lost to fire outbreak from vandalised pipeline in Jesse, Delta State. In 2004, over 250 deaths were recorded in Abia State pipeline incident while over 250 lives were also lost in Ilado-Lagos pipeline explosion in 2005. A couple of other lives were lost in Ijeododo in Lagos, an area also known for its notoriety as vandals’ haven. The area has recorded several incidents of explosions, in the past few years even in December last year it had an explosion which recorded no casualty. In December 2006 at Abule-Egba, Lagos, over 240 lives were lost to pipeline explosion.
Arepo had three explosions between August last year and January this year recording more than 10 deaths excluding members of staff of PPMC killed when they came to fix the vandalised pipe. There are many other explosions and each time it occurs, it is followed by fuel scarcity and loss of revenue to the government.
Sustained government support
The January 2013 attack at Arepo seemed like a turning point in the fight against vandalism and vandals. For the first time, the Ministry of Petroleum and the NNPC decided to apply horizontal directional drilling (HDD) system, which would enable the pipes be buried very deep below the surface. This would make the pipes inaccessible. This is in addition to clearing bushes along the pipeline’s right of way and continuous surveillance of the areas by joint team of armed security personnel.
This technology should be applied in the right of ways of the pipeline network across the country. It is imperative to do this especially with the unbundling of the NNPC and privatisation of some successor companies.
Besides, since the beginning of last year, the burden of importation of products has solely fallen on the NNPC following the refusal of marketers to import. Therefore, with the development, operations in the downstream sector would be safer and more reliable by creating the needed investors’ confidence in the industry.
As the government funds the anti-vandalism techniques, the National Assembly ought to listen to the calls of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison, Andrew Yakubu and other top stakeholders for the legislation and passage into law of appropriate punishment for vandals.
Haruna Momoh had said: “We are talking to legislators at the National Assembly on proper sanction and prosecution of people that engage in oil theft and pipeline vandalism. We have also lost lives in the cost of repairing the vandalised pipelines in Arepo. We have lost about five members of staff who were killed while on duty repairing the vandalised pipelines. We, however, call on Nigerians and stakeholders to come together to fight this menace head-on.”
The Petroleum Ministry and NNPC have also begun to revamp moribund fuel depots across the country. The NNPC boss, Andrew Yakubu, had assured that he is committed to sanitising the downstream subsector adding that all dysfunctional PPMC, depots would be rehabilitated to bring stability to fuel supply and distribution nationwide.
Yakubu also noted that the corporation had embarked on aggressive expansion of its retail outlets across the country to enable it respond appropriately and adequately to motorist whenever there is problem of artificially induced fuel scarcity.
