Between August 24 and 30, 2024, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has announced a staggering 188 instances of crude theft in the Niger Delta region.
The state-owned company disclosed that a number of these incidents took place in a variety of states, as illicit refineries and connections were dismantled during this time.
NNPC disclosed in its visual report that 89 illicit refineries were discovered and demolished, with the majority located in Bayelsa, Abia, and Rivers States.
Furthermore, it underscored the discovery of numerous unlawful pipeline connections, which resulted in oil spills in various regions, such as Abia, Rivers, and Bayelsa States.
In addition, the elimination of oil theft was further complicated by the discovery of substantial unlawful storage reservoirs in Abia State. Law enforcement agents intercepted numerous vehicles, including lorries and wooden boats, that were employed to transport stolen crude oil in Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, and Akwa Ibom States, according to the report.
Authorities were granted custody of thirty-one suspects associated with the crude theft operations for additional investigation. NNPC’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, conveyed apprehension regarding the proliferation of oil theft, characterizing it as one of the most severe economic crimes in Nigeria.
It was disclosed that more than 4,800 illicit pipeline connections have been eliminated, with hundreds more yet to be identified and decommissioned. Kyari underscored the necessity of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) dedicating more resources to address the increasingly prevalent issue.
“Today, we have disconnected up to 4,846 illegal pipes connected to our pipelines, which is out of 5,543 such illegal connection points. That means there are a vast number of such connections that we have not removed.
“These things don’t just happen from the blues. They happen in communities and locations we all know. As we remove one illegal connection, another one comes up. It is sad,” Kyari told the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, during a meeting in March.
NNPCL supervisor stated that this kind of oil theft is not happening anywhere else in the world.
“When we say illegal connections, they are not invisible things, they are big pipes that require some level of expertise to be installed. Some of them are of the same size as the trunk line itself. No one would produce crude oil knowing full well that it is not going to get to the terminal. That is why nobody is putting money into the business. So, you can’t grow production,” he lamented.
