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Tag: Oil theft

  • Oil theft: Mark insists on death penalty

    Oil theft: Mark insists on death penalty

    Senate President, David Mark, on Tuesday insisted on death penalty for oil thieves.

    Mark said it does not need a genius to know that persistent crude oil theft would have a devastating effect on the economy if not checked.

    He stated this in his welcome address to Senators just back from a one- month break in Abuja.

    He said: “We must therefore address it squarely. I still maintain my earlier stance that oil theft should attract capital punishment.”

    The Senate President lamented that that the nation was still bedeviled with economic and security challenges.

    He was upbeat that gains were apparent in the three states where state of emergency has been declared.

    “As we make progress and win the hearts and minds of the people, government must intensify the provision of social amenities in those areas where normalcy has returned.

    “We must do everything possible to address squarely the social and economic needs of our people,” he added.

    He further told Senators to make the welfare of Nigerians of paramount importance in all their parliamentary actions during the 3rd Session of the 7th Senate.

    According to Mark, the consideration of the report of the Committee on Review of the 199 Constitution and consideration and passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) would top the Senate’s agenda for the current session.

    Other priority areas include Pension Reform Act (amendment) Bill, review of the Electoral Act, 2010, preparation for anticipated flooding during the raining season and preparation of the first Africa Legislative Summit in November, 2013.

    He said: “I have no doubt that the 7th Senate will be judged by how well we tackle the items on the present legislative agenda.

    “If we get it right, and I am sure we will, we shall succeed in turning adversity into profound opportunity for our countrymen and women, and fundamentally alter our collective destiny,” he said.

     

     

  • Africa loses $300b to oil theft, illegal fishing

    Africa loses $300b to oil theft, illegal fishing

    African countries have lost about $300billion to oil theft and illegal fishing in the continent, the Chairperson of the African Union, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has said.

    She spoke yesterday at the opening ceremony of the first summit of Heads of States and Governments of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC),in Yaounde, the Cameroon.

    Dlamini-Zuma said the continent has lost $200 billion in five decades to illegal fishing and $100 billion to illegal bunkering since 2003.

    ”We cannot allow this incursion of resources to continue”. She warned.

    President Goodluck Jonathan according to a statement, was among the 25 African leaders that were at the opening ceremony of the summit, which focuses on maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea.

    The leaders gathered under the UN Resolution 2039 of February 2012, for the Gulf of Guinea region where 200 million people are living under threat of piracy and transnational maritime crimes.

    The summit is to provide a coordinated regional and international response to the scourges of piracy, drug trafficking, armed robbery and other illegal maritime activities in the Gulf of Guinea.

    At the meeting, the leaders according to the statement, will review and adopt a series of measures that were previously reviewed at the March 2013 inter-ministerial conference held in Cotonou (Benin).

    The Nigerian Navy disclosed that the country records between 10 to 15 attacks monthly on its stretch of the Gulf of Guinea.

    According to statistics released at the summit, in the year 2012, 45 per cent of the crimes were committed on Nigeria’s borders, Togo 25 per cent, Ghana three per cent, DRC three per cent, Cameroon five per cent, whi;e Sierra Leone was two per cent. Benin recorded three per cent while Cote d’ Ivoire had two per cent.

    The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) also broke down the attacks recorded to 58 in 2011, 45 in 2012, 34 of which occurred between January and September of the same year as against 30 in 2011 during the same period.

    The attacks have resulted to insecurity, threats to economic growth and political stability in neighbouring countries.

    The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon in his message delivered by Abou Moussa, commended the leaders of the ECCAS, the ECOWAS and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC).

    The host, President Paul Biya, called on his colleagues to make sacrifices to reverse the negative trend.

  • Oil theft in Niger Delta abating, says Shell chief

    Oil theft in the Niger Delta region is abating, the Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC) and Country Chair of Shell Companies Nigeria, Mutiu Sunmonu, has said.

    Mutiu, who said this to reporters during the Offshore Technology conference, however, didn’t give figures or percentage level of decrease in the volume of crude being stolen or saved. The Shell chief said he was unable to determine the amount of stolen crude because of the ongoing repairs of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL).

    He confirmed that the security agents are assisting Shell in the provision of security the company and staff.

    He said: “If you have been following my statements in the media, certainly oil theft was on the increase a few months ago, but I can also tell you that I have also seen increased attention by the government security agencies, the joint task force (JTF), and the Navy. They are really moving in to stem the tide. I wouldn’t say I’m happy but at least I can see improvement in responsiveness of government security agencies to the menace.

    “I think the joint security team is getting more effective. We are having almost a daily discussion with them and they do give us good report on their efforts so far. I have been in the discussions with the chief of naval staff and chief of army staff and they have all given their commitment to work with the oil companies to stem the tide and we are seeing progress, but like I tell you, this is a very big operation. So, I’m not expecting solution overnight, but what I’m expecting is that the government’s security agencies will really keep at what they are doing now. If they keep at it for a while, I’m sure we will begin to see a significant reduction.

    “Unless you are in the creek, you may not be able to appreciate what the government’s security agencies are doing, because there is hardly any day that they are not foiling attempts, arresting vessels and destroying illegal refineries.

    “For instance, in a place such as Bodo, in a week or two weeks ago, they foiled over 30 different attempts by crude oil thieves wanting to add additional tapping points to our line. So, we see all these successes everyday, but I will be able to say the number of barrels reduction in stolen crude when our Nembe Creek Trunk Line is up, but right now that line has been down and we are removing the bunkering points. Once the bunkering points are removed, and the line is up and running, we will then be in a position to judge how much oil we are still losing, but right now whatever figure I give you will be artificial.”

    Sunmonu also said the increasing declaration of force majeure by Shell may continue until the company substantially recovers from frequent attacks of its facilities. “You need to see this kind of force majeure for some time until we fully recover because even with all the efforts that the government’s security agencies are putting in, there are some steps that we need to take together jointly in order to make sure that the effect are not continuing.

    “The force majeure you have seen us declare is for us to remove some of the very bad bunkering points that have been put on the line because if don’t remove those bunkering points even if you have the entire Nigerian Army in the creek, you will still continue to see crude being stolen. So, our initial attempt is to remove those bunkering points to complement what the security agencies are doing.

    There has been a recent upsurge in crude theft on the NCTL, resulting in frequent production shutdown and massive oil spills blighting the environment of the host communities.

    Shell said between February 22 and 25, 12 flow stations were shut by safety systems three times due to oil theft. The oils giant loses about 80,000 barrels of oil daily to oil theft.

  • Why oil theft will continue in the Niger Delta

    Why oil theft will continue in the Niger Delta

    A trail along the river banks deep in the Nigerian swamps winds through forest before arriving at a clearing, where the ground is black from oil and soot, puddles shimmering with crude.

    A makeshift refinery sits there, its drums and pipes resembling a junkyard contraption but apparently capable of producing usable fuel from stolen oil, part of a major underground industry Nigeria says it is now trying to stop.

    “The whole thing is the resilience of the people,” one man with knowledge of the illegal operation proclaims, defending what he says is local communities’ right to benefit from the vast oil reserves in the country’s Niger Delta region.

    Oil companies such as Shell say crude theft has surged in Nigeria, with estimates that the country loses some $6 billion (4.6 billion euros) per year in revenue as thieves sabotage and syphon off pipelines in the vast wetlands of the delta.

    The illegal refineries are only one part of the illicit industry in Africa’s biggest oil producer, and concerns have grown over its alleged international dimension.

    Authorities, oil firms and industry analysts say the chain of culprits and the stolen crude itself can sometimes reach far beyond Nigerian shores.

    “I’ve always said in my speeches that I believe that there are a lot of international syndicates involved,” Mutiu Sunmonu, managing director of Shell’s Nigerian division SPDC, told reporters recently.

    “And you don’t do an operation of this scale without involving a lot of people, both locally and overseas.”

    Nigerian officials have pushed for international help in what they call a campaign against “blood oil”.

    But even if international networks have gained a foothold in the lucrative illicit trade, authorities say it could not happen without Nigerians involved.

    Suspicions regarding the major players have long spread, but determining the truth is difficult in a country where even the legitimate oil industry operates in a largely opaque manner.

    Allegations have been levelled against high-level Nigerian political figures as well as the military itself, though such accusations have always been firmly denied.

    In terms of foreign involvement, the military says one suspect recently claimed he worked with someone in Lebanon, while a number of foreigners have been arrested, including West Africans but also recently Indians.

    “They have people who are collaborating with them,” said Lieutenant Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu, spokesman for a military task force in the Niger Delta region.

    “They are Nigerians, and they are people who have thorough knowledge of what the industry is about.”

    Locals see ‘bunkering’ as sharing in nation’s oil wealth.

    The problem is dauntingly complex, ranging from poor youths in the swamps distilling oil in the middle of the night in dangerous conditions to the higher-level smuggling of boatloads of crude outside of Nigeria.

    It touches on the feeling among many residents in the delta that few have benefited from the oil wealth in Nigeria, viewed as one of the world’s most corrupt nations and where most of the population lives on around $1 a day or less.

    Decades of oil pollution have at the same time poisoned creeks in a region where fishing had been a major source of livelihood, often with few repercussions for those at fault.

    Shell, Nigeria’s biggest oil producer, says most spills happen due to sabotage, but activists accuse the company of not doing enough to prevent and clean them.

    Violence had previously taken hold in the Niger Delta that saw pipelines blown up, oil facilities attacked and foreigners kidnapped. Militants claiming to be fighting for a fairer distribution of oil revenue as well as criminal gangs were responsible.

    A 2009 amnesty deal greatly reduced the unrest, mainly through payments to former militants, but many analysts warn underlying conditions that led to the violence remain unaddressed.

    Criminality, including oil theft, has remained a problem since then. Some make no apology for the illicit crude industry, referred to locally as “bunkering”.

    A local chief in the delta says his community is no longer involved in bunkering — but only because soldiers have engaged in a crackdown. He says local refining allowed the impoverished community to benefit from cheap fuel.

    “This has motivated our people to be doing the local bunkering … They stopped us,” said Senior Karibo of the Peremabiri community in Bayelsa state, located more than an hour by boat from the state capital Yenagoa.

    The military says it has increased patrols. Makeshift refineries have been burnt down by soldiers, and locals say refining operations now mostly occur at night.

    Nwachukwu shares emails from patrol units on their findings, including one where locals are warned that those involved in the illicit trade will be shot on sight.

    He insists such “community relations” are only meant to frighten and that troops have not shot anyone apart from gangs they have clashed with.

    According to Nwachukwu, nearly 2,000 suspects were arrested in 2012 in connection with the task force’s operations, but they are often released on bail and return to the same activity.

    He says the man claiming to work with someone in Lebanon offered bribes to soldiers after his arrest and even signed a paper committing to bring more money. Despite such evidence, he was later released and is now walking the streets, Nwachukwu said.

    “What we do is arrest the suspects. When we hand them over, what happens? Let me tell you what happens,” he says, before trailing off.

  • JTF attributes Bayelsa spill to oil theft

    The Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta Region, “Operation Pulo Shield,” said it had traced the oil spill at Nembe Community in Bayelsa State to the activities of oil thieves.

    The spokesman of the JTF, Lt. Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa that operatives of the task force had identified the source of the spill.

    Nwachukwu also dismissed claims by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) that its men attacked the facilities which belong to Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), in Nembe.

    He described as false “the claim by those criminals” of blowing up a well head.

    The spokesman said the JTF troops on patrol along Nembe Creek 1 Flow Station had earlier reported an incident of oil spill on the water around Ewwelesuo Community in Nembe.

    “The troops observed a fresh dug out possibly for laying illegal pipeline and fresh foot prints which were traced to a small camp.

    “Items such as hack saw for cutting pipelines, shovels, food items, cooking pots, sleeping mat, foot wears, bags of pure water and clothes were found in the camp,” Nwachukwu told NAN.

    He said the affected oil well operated by Shell in the Nembe axis had been shut down to forestall further damages to the environment.

    NAN also gathered that the camp used by the oil thieves in Nembe area for the illicit trade has been destroyed by the JTF.

     

  • Worsening oil theft’ll jeopardise economy, says ACN

    Worsening oil theft’ll jeopardise economy, says ACN

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has warned that the rising cases of crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta will worsen the country’s economic woes, when placed side by side with other problems besetting the country’s troubled oil sector, unless the Federal Government acts decisively to stop the criminal act.

    In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said oil theft and pipeline vandalism, the cost of which has been put between 6 and 12 billion US dollars per annum, have reverted to the pre-amnesty period, when oil theft peaked at about 350,000 barrels of per day – higher than the quantity of oil produced daily by Gabon or Equatorial Guinea.

    The statement reads: ‘’On February 24, 2013, we raised the alarm that the country’s economy was heading for the rocks, citing the skyrocketing cost of oil production, from 4 dollars per barrel in 2002 to 35 dollars per barrel presently; the massive corruption in the oil sector; the sharp fall in the discovery of new oil and gas reserves due to the low investment in the sector, and the challenge posed by alternative sources of global supply of oil and gas.

    ‘’For raising that alarm, we were pilloried by those who acted more out of emotion than facts. Today, we say the situation is actually worse than we had thought, exacerbated by pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft which have reached an unsustainable level. Add this to the resurgence of attacks by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), and we are compelled to cry out again.’’

    ACN said the action taken in recent times by two major oil companies, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), is the clearest indication yet of the seriousness of the situation.

    The party added: ‘’In March 2013, SPDC announced that it will shut down the 150,000bpd

    Nembe Creek oil pipeline this April due to the urgent need to clear away illegal connections meant to facilitate the theft of crude oil from the pipeline. Also in March, NAOC declared a force majeure regarding crude oil liftings at the Brass terminal and suspended its activities in Bayelsa State, following the intensification of illegal bunkering activities and the vandalisation of the 10’’ Kwale-Akri-Nembe-Brass oil delivery line.

    ‘’The shutdown of these two key oil delivery trunk lines by SPDC and

    NAOC has cut nearly 300,000 barrels per day from already dwindling Nigeria’s oil output, now put at 2.2 million barrels per day, down from 2.75 million barrels per day a year ago, resulting from increased, organised and sophisticated illegal bunkering of oil by criminals operating in the creeks of the Niger Delta.

    ‘’To worsen matters, it has been alleged that some bad eggs in the military Joint Task Force (JTF) deployed to the region to protect oil personnel and facilities have been accused of complicity in the illegal bunkering activities. This is why the Federal Government must quickly engage key stakeholders in a dialogue with a view to finding ways to stop the criminal act before it cripples the economy and brings Nigeria down to its knees.

    ‘’We are particularly concerned that the Nembe Creek axis seems to have been the worst hit by the criminal act, despite being the operating base of a key former militant who has cornered a lucrative Federal Government contract to protect Nigeria’s coastline from the same bunkering activities that are now getting out of control.”

    ACN said it is worrisome that the relative peace witnessed in the Niger Delta following the amnesty programme for oil militants seems to have waned, going by available statistics: A total of 350,000 barrels per day was lost to illegal bunkering in the Niger Delta in 2012, representing an increase of 45 per cent over the figure for 2011 and 67 per cent over that of 2010. It added that the trend for 2013 is alarming.

    It said without prejudice to whatever solutions that key stakeholders may proffer to the criminal act of pipeline vandalism and oil theft, it is important for the security agencies operating in the Niger Delta to safeguard lives and property in the Niger Delta; and the government must recommit itself to enhancing security of investment in the region, while at the same time tackling headlong the grinding poverty in the oil region.

  • Should oil theft attract death penalty

    Should oil theft attract death penalty

    While inaugurating the Committee on the Petroleum Industry Bill, Senate President David Mark suggested death penalty for oil thieves and pipeline vandals. But some lawyers believe that capital punishment will not solve the problem, just as it has not solved armed robbery. For them, the existing laws should be enforced, Precious Igbonwelundu reports.

    Senate President David Mark has called for the death penalty for oil thieves and illegal bunkerers to stem pipeline vandalism.

    He spoke while inaugurating the Senate Joint Committee on Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), noting that capital punishment was most suitable for oil thieves who have made the country lose so much revenue.

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has, on various occasions, released statistics showing the havoc the vandals cause.

    A report said between August and October 2012, the NNPC System 2B pipeline transporting petroleum products recorded 774 break points from Atlas Cove to Ilorin.

    The report said there were 118 break points to Mosimi; 421 ruptured points from Mosimi to Ibadan; 50 vandalised points from Mosimi to Ore and 122 break points between Ibadan and Ilorin.

    The effect is that conveying petroleum products across the over 5,000km of vast network of pipelines has become a nightmare.

    The attendant dangers has not stopped the perpetrators. There have been a series of pipeline explosions that have claimed hundreds of lives and destroyed properties worth millions of naira.

    In May 2006, about 150 people died at Abagbo Village, Eti-Osa Local Government Area (LGA), while scooping petrol from a vandalised pipeline.

    Forty- three others were given mass burial in the same area in 2007, as a result of pipeline explosion caused by vandals.

    Similarly, scores of Nigerians, including women, children and the aged, were reportedly killed in different explosions, while scooping fuel from a vandalized pipeline in Arepo.

    In its quest to address the menace, the Federal Government has constituted a taskforce on petroleum monitoring which includes men of the Armed Forces, the Police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), to guard pipeline areas and arrest illegal bunkerers and vandals. But this seemed not to have yielded much fruits as the illegal activities increase daily with the perpetrators getting deadlier.

    The security agencies have also been accused of conniving with the vandals to steal oil. Where vandals have been arrested, no one has ever heard of a successful prosecution or conviction of the criminals to serve as deterrent to others.

    This is despite the fact that Chapter 353 of the Laws of the Federation, 1990, provides for a maximum of 21 years in prison for anyone convicted of pipeline vandalisation or oil theft.

    There is also the Petroleum Production and Distribution (PDD) (Anti-Sabotage) Act of 1975. Could it be that these laws are not stringent enough? Will death penalty stem vandalisation of pipelines?

    Lawyers, who spoke on the issue, noted that such vices are the least of Nigeria’s challenges. They called on the legislator to rather make corruption a capital offence. They accused the government of insensitivity to the plight of the citizens, which has left vulnerable and unemployed youths with no other option than to fend for themselves.

    Although they described pipeline vandalisation as a heinous economic crime that deserves stringent sanctions for offenders, the lawyers blamed the government for non-enforcement of existing laws on economic sabotage.

    They differed on the recommendation of death sentence for oil thieves and vandals by Mark. Some of them maintained that such laws were already in existence but underutilised.

    Those who spoke on the issue included Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Norrison Quakers; constitutional lawyer Dr. Fred Agbaje; Lagos based lawyers Dr. Frederick Banjoko and Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa and Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikorodu Branch, Sahid Owosile.

    Quakers said the statement accredited to the Senate President was “borne out of emotion and concern for the plundering of our common wealth as a nation and as a people”, just as he noted that death penalty will not address the problem.

    ‘‘Many Nigerians at the top echelon of the military, government and private individuals are involved in plundering our common wealth with impunity, bearing in mind that the various laws in the petroleum sub-sector such as: The Petroleum Act 1969; Oil Pipeline Act 1956; Oil & Gas Pipelines Regulations 1995, among others, regrettably, do not provide or carry heavy penal sanctions.

    ‘‘Section 4(1) of the Petroleum Act Cap P10 1969, says a person must obtain licence from the Minister to sell, store or distribute any petroleum product in the country. Then 4(6) went further to provide a penalty upon conviction, of two years in prison or a fine of N2,000 or both as well as the forfeiture of the petroleum products in respect of which the offence was committed. The same thing applies for Section 13(2)(b)(iv) of the Petroleum Act, which provides a fine not exceeding N2, 000 for any person who acts without the appropriate licence.

    “Section 26 of the Oil &Gas Pipeline Regulations, 1995, provides for the punishment for any person who contravenes the regulation on pipeline building. Such an offender will be liable upon conviction to a fine up to N500, 000 or imprisonment for a term of six months or to both fine and imprisonment.”

    Quakers said the provisions of Sections 4, 6 and 13 of the Petroleum Act, 1969, were not strict enough and adequate to tackle oil bunkering and pipeline vandalisation compared to the higher sanction for failure to build a pipeline in line with the laid down regulation as provided for in Section 26 of the Oil & Gas Pipeline Regulations.

    “Although there have been talks from all sides that death penalty should be imposed on offenders involved in bunkering and vandalism, I am of the view that such provision would not deter the offenders from continuing with these acts. I agree to an extent that stricter punishments should be meted out such as life imprisonment and forfeiture of wealth amassed or acquired from illegal bunkering activities, if the government will be courageous enough to stamp its authority in imposing stricter sanctions on persons found liable regardless of how highly placed they are.

    “The thought of being locked up for a long time in the prison should help in curbing pipeline vandalism. Proactively, proper surveillance machinery should be put in place and monitors connected to a central computer system should be used in detecting any leakage or bust on any of the pipelines in the country. Once this is in place, any form of tampering will be immediately and easily detected and proper actions taken to prevent the destruction from escalating to a disaster.

    “Pipeline vandalisation and oil bunkering are also financial crimes because they rob the state of its resources. They should be treated as economic crimes and the Economic and Finance Crimes Commission (EFCC) by its enabling Act is empowered to investigate and prosecute before courts of competent jurisdiction such persons or offenders.

    “As we have always maintained, there are enough laws covering the field, and as a country we must never appear to be helpless if only our enforcement and prosecutorial agencies will step up to their responsibilities in the face of clear and unambiguous enabling legislations which can be deployed conjunctively in stemming the tide of illegal bunkering which has also encouraged foreign participation,’’ Quakers said.

    Agbaje noted that the Senate President in the recommendation said nothing new. He added that there was a legislation under the Laws of the Federation, 1990, that provides for death penalty or a prison term of not more than 21 years for pipeline vandals.

    He blamed the government for the under utilisation of the PPD (Anti-Sabotage) Act of 1975, blaming the connivance of the various agencies as well as the lack of political will by the government for the upsurge in vandalism.

    ‘‘With due respect to the Senate President, he has not said anything new by recommending capital punishment for oil thieves and pipeline vandals. What he said is in consonance with what the PPD Act says. So, it was an oversight for him to repeat what has been provided for in the law.

    ‘‘His recommendation is borne out of verbosity. In as much as he has reminded Nigerians that oil thieves constitute economic sabotage and deserve the heaviest capital punishment, he must also be reminded that we also need death penalty for looters of treasury, particularly political office holders and top civil servants, who have nothing else to do but loot us dry. And such death penalty must start now.

    ‘‘That is the only way the recommendation of the Senate President can be meaningful to average Nigerians. As far as I am concerned, the law is adequate. I am in total agreement with that law because the activities of these vandals, who are highly connected, are affecting our general interest.

    ‘‘My worry is not with the law but its under utilisation. If the provision of the PPD Act has been followed, with one or two people convicted and executed, others would have learnt their lessons.

    ‘‘But the government has not shown any activism towards the fullest implementation of the petroleum laws. In spite of the series of pipeline vandalisations and arrests of suspects, how many convictions have been secured?’’ He queried.

    According to Agbaje, the government has been engaged in media ground standing as against effective prosecution of vandals. He said because there is a liturgy by the government as well as a growing connivance between suspects and the relevant agencies that is why pipeline vandalism has thrived.

    “An example is what happened recently at Ikorodu, where members of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) allegedly arrested some vandals, only for the police to go there and kill NSCDC men and by so doing, freed the vandals.

    “Government must show seriousness in the arrest and prosecution of oil thieves including the very highly placed ones. I agree that most judges may not want to deliver death sentences on criminals when they have alternative options, but even 21 years in prison as provided by the PDD Act is enough punishment for anyone convicted of the offence,” Agbaje said.

    To Banjoko, there is no aversion to such a proposal if it is intended to discourage the growing dangerous practice which has caused havoc to the nation’s resources. He noted that the penalty for such crime is death in the country’s statute.

    He said: ‘‘I do not know if such crime does not already attract death sentence in the nation’s statute. It amounts to economic sabotage, and I believe it should attract capital punishment. Honestly people should be discouraged from acts capable of crippling the nation’s economy.

    ‘‘The state should also learn from this that it arises from an aversion to the current unjust distribution pattern of the national wealth. Today, the few in the corridor of power enjoy the national wealth more than the rest of us outside. There should be a change of tactics. Corruption in public space should be tackled.

    ‘‘Mark and others, who have been in the corridor of power for decades, should be ashamed that fraud and corruption are still common among public office holders.

    ‘‘Mark and others should know that laws, on their own, do not effect necessary changes, but the willingness of the people to appreciate the justice behind the law.

    ‘‘The Senate President and others cannot continue to enjoy the benefit of a system that shut the poor majority out from benefiting from the national wealth and yet want them to be subjugated by mere enactment of laws.

    ‘‘What I am saying is that politicians and public officers should change from their greedy and kleptomanic nature. It is only then that we can begin to agree that those who seek to help themselves to the national wealth through any means, illegal bunkering inclusive, are truly enemies of the state, and hence should be classified as economic saboteurs,’’ Banjoko added.

    Owosile described the recommendation as taking the country backward. He insisted that the problem was not the existing laws but the enforcement of such laws. The NBA chairman disagreed with the death penalty recommendation, noting that it won’t yield positive result.

    ‘‘It is like going back in time. Let us appreciate one thing, Law is culture. In our own society, our morality surpasses our legality. That is why, often times, when punishment is too high, the deterrence expected does not come because nobody wants anybody to die.

    ‘’At the end of the day, it won’t work. We have gone past the period of death sentence. You remember the case of Bartholomew Owoh and the rest of them in 1984. That incidence was a big smear on the administration of General Muhammed Buhari and General Tunde Idiagbon because at that time it was military fiat and they exercised their fiat to kill those people, which backfired.

    ‘‘Why should anybody take us to that level again? It is not fair. It is not proper. The world is shifting from absolute deterrence to subtle jail term. So how can we go back to death sentence? And all these talk about subsidy fraud, they are not sincere about them, they are not at all. The laws that are existing; how have they enforced those ones before talking about death sentence? I do not agree with them at all,’’ he said.

    Adegboruwa said death penalty in any part of the world can never be deterrence to criminal activities. ‘‘In Nigeria today, offences like murder, armed robbery, coup, or mutiny carry death penalty, but till date, armed robbery is on the increase. Abating oil theft is not a matter for sentences and convictions. Those involved in illegal oil bunkering are mostly beyond the law because they are highly placed.

    ‘‘Empty legislations will not curb incidence of illegal oil bunkering, unless there is the will power by the government to clamp down on the powerful oil thieves. The remedy to a crime of such nature would be to strengthen existing institutions, such as the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Navy, to monitor and regulate bunkering.

    “It is common knowledge that most of these big oil thieves utilise the proceeds of their illegal acts to even fund campaigns and elections of some political big-wigs. So, the fight should begin from empowering the requisite institutions, which will in turn put up resistance to the activities of these dubious Nigerians. Their duties must, however, be carried out without interference,” Adegboruwa said.

     

  • Oil theft: Endless search for solution

    Oil theft: Endless search for solution

    Oil theft is almost becoming a norm in Nigeria as nobody raises eyebrow whenever it is mentioned. Though very strange when talked about in other oil producing countries, the nefarious act also called illegal bunkering, has remained a booming business for decades and has defied all solutions by both the military and civilian governments. EMEKA UGWUANYI Assistant Editor (Energy) reports

     

    Oil theft, also known as illegal bunkering, is the act of hacking into pipelines to steal crude, which is later refined or sold abroad. Today, it has become an organised crime with international connections. Illegal bunkering is a booming business in the Niger Delta, costing Nigeria about a tenth of its crude production daily.

    However, the amazing aspect of this crime is that despite the involvement of the security personnel – army, navy, air force, police, civil defence corps and lately the ex-militant chiefs, in monitoring of the waterways, oil theft has continued unabated. All the joint task forces (JTFs) comprising the armed forces and the police, which have been created over the years, have been unable to unravel the mystery behind the oil theft. A couple of times there have been reports of arrest of suspected oil thieves (both foreigners and Nigerians) caught with vessels loaded with stolen crude, yet none has prosecuted and jailed. Nigerians only hear of their arrests.

    Over the years, it has been reportedly said that powerful Nigerians are behind oil theft. Many Nigerians have asked whether these Nigerians are so powerful and invincible that they cannot be identified, arrested and prosecuted. Could it also be that these security operatives saddled with the duty of fighting oil theft are not telling Nigerians the truth? Nigeria is the only oil producing country that thieves continue to steal over 60,000 barrels of crude oil every day for years uncaught. Nigeria is the only oil producing country that depends on imported refined petroleum products for domestic consumption and the only oil producing country where 50 per cent of refined products meant for domestic consumption are illegally and freely diverted to neighbouring countries by marketers.

     

    Consequences

     

    Apart from the bad image it gives Nigeria abroad, oil theft results in loss of huge revenues to the federal government and oil firms that own the assets from which the oil is stolen, and also devastates the environment. Last year, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, after several hours of closed door meeting in Lagos with service chiefs of the armed forces and the police, told reporters that Nigeria was losing 180,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) to crude thieves, which translated to $7 billion yearly.

    Besides, she noted that apart from the $7 billion lost to oil thieves, another $5 billion was lost yearly to repair vandalised pipelines through which the thieves siphon crude.

    The meeting with service chiefs was held in May last year and the objective was to enable the security chiefs to fashion out new ways to battle the oil thieves through collaboration and forming new joint task forces that would check the escalating oil theft in the country. But 11 months after, no tangible result has come out of the meeting.

    Speaking at the Nigeria Oil and Gas conference in Abuja, Mrs Alison-Maduke said that oil theft is hurting the economy. She added that it has become a multi-million dollar business, which is run by international crime syndicates. She said the products from bunkering are not sold in West Africa, neither is the financial output laundered in West African banks, but they end up in far-flung international fiscal institutions.

    The Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria and Managing Director, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), Mutiu Sunmonu, at a forum in Abuja said if Nigeria wants to maintain its competitive edge in oil production in Africa, it should contain security issues in onshore province.

    “Onshore, there are a multitude of security related issues that have to be dealt with on a daily basis. For instance, oil theft and sabotage, which lead to loss of production and resources makes Nigeria to lose an estimated $6 billion annually,” he said. Sunmonu also lamented the level of devastation the activities of oil thieves cause the environment.

    The Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC) is also planning to shut the 150,000 barrel per day Nembe Creek Trunk Line next month for nine days to fundamentally look for more crude theft points on the pipeline. If the pipeline is shut, the government would be losing revenues in excess of $15.75 million daily at the current crude price of $105.65 per barrel.

     

    Renewed efforts

     

    The Federal Government is collaborating with other countries such as the United States, European countries and some other emerging economies to fight oil theft in Nigeria. President Goodluck Jonathan, according to Petroleum Minister, is utilising Nigeria’s diplomatic ties by reaching out to his colleagues around the world on the issue. The President she said, held a discussion with the Prime Minister of Great Britain in February, adding that the government was getting positive responses from these countries, which would come on board to help Nigeria fight this menace.

    Reuters also said it learnt that the Royal Dutch Shell, whose arm is Nigeria’s biggest oil producer, has been lobbying the British Government to help Nigeria to end illegal bunkering.

    The Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Abiye Membere, who chaired a special session comprising managing directors of oil companies during at a forum in Abuja, said the country loses between 50,000 and 80,000 barrels of oil per day to crude oil thieves.

    He said apart from President Jonathan’s plan to collaborate with other countries’ leaders, the Federal Government is exploring other areas to fight oil theft and bring it to a sustainable end. Some of the options include use of fibre optic survey and satellite imaging. These will help the government capture images of the oil thieves while carrying out the act.

    Others include use of advanced technology and declaring proceeds from stolen Nigerian crude as blood money and the speedy passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

    Membere said the volume of oil lost to illegal bunkering is equivalent to discovering two new oil fields, adding that some of the countries that parade themselves as oil producing countries don’t produce as much as 50,000 barrels per day.

    He said stakeholders in the industry must find a way of breaking the unit of people driving the dastardly act of oil theft.

    The Chairman/Managing Director, ExxonMobil Companies in Nigeria, Mark Ward, said giving back to the oil producing communities would substantially help achieve success. He said if the community people are given a sense of belonging as owners of the assets and are incorporated into the fight against oil theft as stakeholders, more success would be recorded.

    Sunmonu also suggested that the government should find a way of tracing where the money from oil theft goes. He likened it to drug pushing where little boys and girls are mere carriers while the barons are backstage. He was of the view that if the money is traced, the carriers and the barons would easily be found.

    He said because of what Shell has suffered from oil theft, the company currently lays pipeline at 4.5 metres depth as a measure to check undue easy access to the pipelines. He also advised the NNPC and other oil companies not to magnify their differences but bring common issues to amicable resolution.

    The Deputy Managing Director (Deepwater), Total Upstream Nigeria Limited, Charles Ngoka, said policies should be such that would support and encourage the development of the industry and unlock undeveloped projects to generate revenues for the country and incentives for the operators to create massive employment. He said most of the international oil companies have deepwater projects in waiting.

  • Group tasks FG on oil theft, illegal refineries

    Group tasks FG on oil theft, illegal refineries

    Shareholders Alliance for Corporate Accountability (SACA) has urged the Federal Government to urgently halt the rising wave of crude oil theft and operations of illegal refineries in the Niger Delta area.

    The Executive Director of the non-governmental organisation, Rev. Fr. Kevin O’Hara, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa.

    NAN recalls that Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, the largest crude producer in Nigeria, on March 4 raised an alarm on the increasing incidence of crude oil theft.

    The company’s Managing Director, Mr. Mutiu Sumonu, warned that unless efforts were urgently made to curb the illicit oil trade, the company might be forced to shut its Nembe Oil Trunk line.

    He said that Nigeria was losing more than 60,000 barrels of crude daily to theft and illegal refineries.

    O’Hara stressed that oil theft was a complex problem, which posed a serious challenge to the nation’s economy.

    He, therefore, urged the Federal Government to collaborate with the international community in efforts to tackle the problem.

     

  • JTF denies complicity in Niger Delta oil theft

    The Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta on Friday denied complicity over oil theft as Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) said the menace was threatening its operations.

    The SPDC had threatened to shut its Nembe Trunk line because of rising incidents of oil theft within its pipeline network in Bayelsa.

    The Managing Director of SPDC, Mr. Mutiu Sumonu, on March 4, urged the JTF to step up its activities to reduce oil theft, currently standing at about 60,000 barrels daily.

    The JTF spokesman, Lt.-Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, however, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa that the outfit was recording significant success in the fight against the illegal activities.

    According to him, the facts at our disposal are that from January 2013 to date, 260 suspects, eight vessels, nine barges and 90 boats have been arrested.

    “We have also destroyed 452 illegal oil refining points. The JTF has not in any way relented in its task of combating oil theft in the region.

    “The statistics peddled by SPDC is very doubtful, they should look inwards as their staff possessed the expertise to crack and clamp and not the JTF,” Nwachukwu said.

    Nwachukwu said the JTF had adopted a robust strategy in combating oil theft and illegal oil bunkering activities at various stages.

    According to him, this include advocacy, enlightenment campaigns, surveillance of oil installations and pipeline network.

    “Crude oil theft involved a complex network from the source, where crude is stolen, transported, refined and distributed.

    “We recently raided a distribution centre in Yenagoa and destroyed the warehouse, where the products are stored.

    “It is a continuous exercise aimed at making crude theft cost-ineffective, thereby, discouraging it,” he said.