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Tag: oil bunkering

  • EFCC arraigns 10, vessel for illegal oil bunkering

    EFCC arraigns 10, vessel for illegal oil bunkering

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday arraigned 10 persons and a vessel, for alleged oil bunkering.

    They were arrested with 200 metric tons of petroleum products.

    EFCC said they conspired to commit the crime by dealing in petroleum products without appropriate licence on April 4.

    The accused are the vessel’s captain James Abatan, Wasiu Owonikoko, Patrick Ameh, Johson Ademola, Felix Otto, Chigozie Oguike, Olu Salisu, Jomo Gadagbe, Kunle Saheed and Rasheed Adio.

    The alleged offence is contrary to and punishable under Section 3 (1) (6) (17) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, Cap M17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

    The accused were said to have stored the products without lawful authority, an offence contrary to Section 4 of the Petroleum Act, Cap P10, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

    Defence counsel Dada Awoshika urged the court to grant them bail, adding that the vessel was duly certified by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Naval authorities to operate on the Nigerian territorial waters.

    But EFCC’s lawyer Rotimi Oyedepo said the Navy handed the accused persons over to the commission for allegedly dealing in petroleum products without licence.

    He added that samples of the cargo on board the vessel were analysed by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

    He said it was confirmed that the product conformed to Automated Gas Oil (AGO), and that the accused were unable to produce a genuine licence from the DPR authorising them to deal in the product.

    Oyedepo said the vessel was owned by a company called D Dove Oil and Maritime Services Limited with its registered address at Plot 2, Lateef Jakande Road, Agindingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.

    According to him, following further enquiry, the company’s directors hurriedly relocated to an unknown destination.

    The commission said the other suspects in the case were still at large, adding that in view of the public interest and mood of the nation, it would be safe to put the accused persons in protective custody.

    Justice Mohammed Idris adjourned till July 28 for ruling on the bail application.

  • Oil theft: Dickson’s statement stirs controversies

    Oil theft: Dickson’s statement stirs controversies

    The statement credited to Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, on reasons behind oil theft has generated controversies in the Niger Delta region.

    The governor was quoted as saying that militants were using their proceeds from oil theft and illegal bunkering to stockpile arms.

    It was observed that the remarks which the governor was quoted as making when the new Flag Officer Commanding, Central Naval Command, Rear Admiral Usman Ali-Sidi visited him had drawn the ire of activists in the region.

    The President of the Ijaw Peoples Development Initiative, Mr. Austin Ozobo, said Dickson’s statement was an indictment on the region.

    He insisted that the governor feigned ignorance of the difference between militants and oil thieves.

    He said militants depended not on illegal oil bunkering to acquire arms but on wealthy sponsors.

    He said: “It was a noticeable fact that there was no poor person among the heads of former agitators when they started and some of them were not from oil communities contrary to the claims of the governor.

    “Militancy started when the Niger Delta youths were not having privilege to bunkering activities in this country.

    “We want the governor to be specific in his indictment.  We should ask the governor to explain how criminals in the upland areas where there is no drop of oil sustain their criminal activities.”

    He said the government should encourage invention and creativity by legalising operation of illegal refineries.

  • FG seeks Britain’s assistance on oil ‘bunkering’

    FG seeks Britain’s assistance on oil ‘bunkering’

    Nigeria has asked Britain for help to tackle a multi-million dollar oil theft business which is run by international crime syndicates, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Maduke said on Tuesday.

    Oil “bunkering”– hacking into pipelines to steal crude then refining it or selling it abroad — is costing Nigeria a fifth of its two million barrels per day output, government and international oil companies say.

    “The products from bunkering are not sold in (West Africa), neither are the financial outputs … laundered in West African banks, they are ending up in far flung international fiscal institutions,” Reuters quoted Alison-Madueke as saying at an industry conference in Abuja.

    “Mr. President has begun to reach out with his colleagues around the world. A discussion was held with the prime minister of Great Britain on Monday a week ago and they are all coming on board to help sort out this particular menace,” she added.

    Anglo-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell, the biggest foreign producer in Nigeria, has been lobbying the British government to help Nigeria to end bunkering, industry sources say.

    Yet the complicity of security officials and politicians who profit from the practice may limit the impact international governments can have on ending the illegal industry.

     

  • Oil firms aiding bunkering, says ex-CJN Belgore

    Oil firms aiding bunkering, says ex-CJN Belgore

    Former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Salihu Belgore, has accused oil companies of encouraging oil bunkering in the country.

    Belgore, who spoke at the opening of a three-day national workshop on the judiciary and the oil and gas industry organised for Judicial Officers by the International Institute for Petroleum Law, Energy and Policy (IIPLEP), in Abuja, called for the reorganisation of the oil industry to curtail wastages and check bunkering.

    Speaking on the theme: ‘The Nigerian Judiciary and the Oil and Gas Industry: Fostering a better understanding,’ he alleged that oil companies have refineries in neighbouring countries where they process the stolen oil.

    In her address, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mariam Aloma-Mukhtar, identified regulatory uncertainty “as the main obstacle to industry growth and expansion, saying it is a menace no economy can put up with.

    She urged the government to step up efforts to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to address the challenges.

    “It is most significant to note that when companies are unsure of judicial outcomes when deals go sour, or when companies fear uncertain liability, they are less likely to consummate some deals and more likely to keep some new products from the market, thus slowing down the pace of economic growth.

    “It is hoped that the PIB when passed, will stimulate largely eliminate a litany of legislative hiccups, form new bedrock and open up new frontiers for a more robust oil and gas sector that will be both private sector led and commercially driven.”

    Aloma-Mukhtar also stressed the need for the judiciary to be impartial and treat all litigants alike whether they are corporations or individuals.

    The NJI Administrator, Justice Umaru Eri, stated that the survival of the economy rests to a great extent on whatever happens in the oil and gas industry.