Thieves stealing our 10,000bpd, Shell cries out

Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited has said it is losing about 10,000 barrels of oil per day from its pipelines to crude oil theft.

The oil major, in a statement, cried out for help from government, communities and other stakeholders to stem the incessant attack on oil assets in the Niger Delta.

The company said that it had remitted the sum of $2.2bn to the Niger Delta Development Commission between 2002 and 2018 for the development of the region.

Igo Weli, general manager, external relations, was quoted as making the company’s position known on Monday at a media workshop on Pipelines Right of Way Encroachment and Vandalism held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Weli said, “These are critical national assets with 55 per cent government interest and they produce the crude oil that accounts for over 90 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange and the bulk of government revenue.

“Hurting these assets means hurting the nation’s revenue, the economy of the states, the health of the people and the environment.”

He said crude oil theft on the pipeline network resulted in a loss of around 11,000 barrels of oil a day in 2018, compared to about 9,000 bpd in 2017.

Weli said that since 2012, SPDC had removed more than 1,160 illegal theft points on its joint venture pipelines in the Niger Delta.

In its June 2019 monthly report, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, which controls Nigeria’s 55 per cent interest in the SPDC JV, said there was a 77 per cent rise in oil pipeline vandalism and that 106 pipeline breaches were recorded in June, up from 60 in May.

Weli said the SPDC was concerned about the lives and safety of those involved in pipeline vandalism and crude theft just as the company was concerned about the environment.