Oil theft: 163 incidents recorded,16 suspects arrested in Niger Delta in one week

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPC Ltd) has matched its words with action in the war against crude oil theft with the arrests of 16 suspects from 163 incidents in one week in the Niger Delta.

In an X post on Tuesday detailing the summary of activities from November 25 – December 1, in the fight against crude oil theft, the oil firm said 69 illegal refineries have been uncovered.

Persecond News reports that during the period under review, a total of 163 incidents were recorded in the region.

About 41 wooden boats transporting stolen crude were confiscated in Bayelsa State, and 10 illegal storage sites and 10 illegal connections were also discovered in the period under review.

On November 28, Tantita security services, private security compan, in conjunction with government security agencies during a routine surveillance along the western corridor, discovered a large illegal connection point on a Trans Escravos pipeline in Udiabo, Delta State.

A statement said:”14 of these incidents took place in the deep blue water, 62 in the Eastern region, 35 in the Central region, while 52 took place in the Western region, in the past week 16 suspect were arrested.

“For NNPC Ltd. there is backing down on the war on crude oil theft until the menace is eradicated for good.”

The partnership between the NNPCL and private security firm yielded significant impact with the growth of the oil sector rising to 13.43 per cent (year-on-year) in Q2 2023, indicating a decrease of 1.66 per cent points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 (-11.77 per cent).

In September 2023, the oil sector witnessed significant boom as the country’s output was about 14 per cent higher than what it pumped in the preceding month of August 2023.

Nigeria’s crude oil output rose to an all-time high of 1.35 million barrels per day in September, as it’s pumped its highest volume of crude oil so far since this year.

Data from the commission indicated that in September, Nigeria’s crude oil production (excluding condensates) was precisely 1,346,562 barrels per day, which was a 165,429bpd increase when compared to the 1,181,133bpd produced in August this year.

Further analysis of figures obtained from the NUPRC indicated that in January, February and March, the country’s oil outputs were 1,266,659bpd; 1,292,240bpd; and 1,266,737bpd respectively.

In the months of April, May, June and July, Nigeria produced 1,004,392bpd; 1,189,332bpd; 1,260,928bpd; and 1,089,089bpd respectively.