Recently, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari announced the discovery of an illegal oil pipeline that is routed into the sea and used in stealing crude oil.
The discovery has been touted as the biggest crude oil heist in Nigeria.
Narrating how the illegal oil pipeline is routed to steal crude oil from the country, Kyari said “Oil theft in the country has been going on for over 22 years but the dimension and rate it assumed in recent times is unprecedented”.
He added: “In the course of the clampdown within the last six weeks, 395 illegal refineries have been deactivated, 274 reservoirs destroyed, 1,561 metal tanks destroyed, 49 trucks seized.
“The most striking of all, is the four-kilometre illegal oil connection line from Forcados Terminal into the sea which had been in operation undetected for nine solid years”.
Kyari also says that while thieves often tap land-based pipelines to siphon oil undetected, an illegal line in the ocean is highly unusual and suggests a more sophisticated theft operation. However, recent checks indicate that a case of an illegal pipeline in the ocean has been reported as far back as 2017.
The checks follow a documentary released by Channels TV, which unearthed Afremo A Platform, owned by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), a local subsidiary of Shell.
EXCLUSIVE: NNPC, Security Operatives Uncover Illegal Pipeline Used To Steal Oil For Nine Years pic.twitter.com/gCPb9YlV13
— Channels Television (@channelstv) October 7, 2022
Afremo A Platform is located in the Forcados (Estuary and Afremo) Offshore Oil Field. Forcados Offshore Oil Field is operated by the SPDC. The Forcados export terminal typically exports around 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
In 2017, ten (10) suspected oil thieves on board MT TECNE Vessel were arrested by the Nigerian Navy while they were siphoning crude oil into the vessel from the Afremo A platform. The suspects were one Nigerian, two Pakistanis, three Ghanians, one Indonesian, one Beninois and two Ukrainians. TNG gathers that the suspects were eventually handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for prosecution.
That same year, the suspects were arraigned in court and remanded in a prison in Port Harcourt, Rivers State by a Federal High Presided over by by Justice J. K. Omotosho. Some suspects arrested and arraigned in court for siphoning crude oil from the Afremo A Platform were eventually jailed for 7 years.
The foreigners are two Pakistanis: Mohammed Ejaz, Nasser Khan; two Ukranians: Oleksandr Nazarenko, Oleksandr Kashernvi; one Ghanaian: Romeo Annang, and one Indonesian: Fredrik Fatin Omenu. Their Nigerian counterpart: David Otuohi bagged same jail term with them.
However, shockingly, they were given the option of N2 million fine. Meanwhile, the company involved in the crime: Asztral Shipping Corporation SA was wound up by the court while the vessel carrying the offensive crude oil: MT TECNE, a.k.a MT STAR (Vessel) was forfeited to the Federal Government.
The questions Nigerians are asking are: “how come the NNPC is just announcing the discovery”, “why is the NNPC announcing the discovery as though it was made yesterday”, “who are the thieves”, “what happened to the suspects arrested”, “what about the option of fine”, “who are their sponsors”, “is the Afremo A Platform being used to siphon crude oil again in recent times”.
THIS IS NIGERIA. LIKE TOMPOLO SAID, THE SECURITY OPERATIVES ARE THE ONES, STEALING CRUDE OIL. SENT BY HIGHER RANKING OFFICERS. COULD BE AS HIGH UP AS THE PRESIDENT, HIMSELF. IT’S NOT A NEW DISCOVERY. THEY ARE ALL A CARTEL. IT IS AS SIMPLE AS THAT.