Tantita Security Services Nigeria Ltd, (TSSNL), and security agents have discovered another key underwater pipeline and platform through which crude oil was being illegally collected and shipped abroad.
The criminal pipeline was linked to the 48- inch Trans -Forcados Export Trunkline, operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC in Delta state from where suspected bunkers together with their accomplices in government and security circles siphon crude oil into ships for export overseas.
The discovery is a breakthrough in the renewed effort by the Federal government, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), the Ministry of Defense, and other stakeholders to stop oil theft in the country.
A week ago, the Tantita, a company owned by High Chief Government Ekpemupolo popularly known as Tompolo
had exposed an illegal four-kilometer crude oil pipeline also attached to the same Trans–Forcados Export Trunk Line.
According to The Vanguard, the illegal pipeline which was located behind a military post in Ogulaha, Burutu local government area of Delta State was fabricated by professionals and attached to a crude oil pipeline abandoned by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited, NAOC, allowing bunkers to smoothly pump cleaned crude oil from there into their vessels.
SPDC operates the Forcados Terminal with a capacity to export 400,000 barrels per day. It takes delivery of crude from the Forcados Oil Pipeline System and is the second largest pipeline network in Nigeria's oil-producing region after the Bonny Pipeline System.
It is a smart design that has been going on for a while– Tantita.
The Consultant in charge of Marine Intelligence at Tantita, Captain Warren Enisuoh, who spoke to journalists in Ogulagha on the discovery on Saturday, said: “What has happened was that the perpetrators of this organized crime attached a pipeline into a Shell Petroleum Development Company 48-inch export line. The crude in this line has been cleaned up and is ready to go.
"So, they tapped into it, the place was initially filled with water, but, technologically, they were able to connect their pipe underwater.
“We trotted the line on foot to the point it was tapped, we had to create something on either side of the pipeline so that the water could be pumped out.
"For days, we pumped the water out before the illegality was exposed. You see that the riser behind me is operated by another joint venture company called AGIP, so these fellows piped the crude through the abandoned oil field that belongs to AGIP, which they used to pipe crude oil to the Beniboye Flow Station.
"What happened is that instead of piping crude to Beniboye Flow Station, the oil bunkers export crude.
That particular jacket you see outside there is a very old one, they cut the Agip line, connected their own through the extreme riser out to that other jacket.
“Then at night, the usual thing happens, which is that they bring ships to that particular platform, connect their modernized lines to the ships, which they bring in, and off they go from there.
“Well, they are not smarter than Nigeria, NNPCL, Tantita. We discovered this about a week ago, and we had to employ a whole lot of machinery to be able to bring you (reporters) in to see it.
"We knew about the platform and started working on it when we had the support of NNPCL and the government. Nigeria has suffered enough, we have to stop these illegalities.
“The distance from the illegality to the point we are standing is about one kilometer and from here to the jacket is approximately four kilometers.
"Therefore, what they do… because the whole line is a six-inch pipe, each time they pump, they open their valve and the crude stored on this line; then, they close it off so that when their ships are sucking, you would not feel the effect from the pressure on the other side.
"Therefore, it is a smart design, I do not know how long. With the intelligence we have been getting about ships coming to that particular area, which led to this find, it has been going on for a while, more than a year perhaps.
"We share our intelligence with the Joint Task Force, JTF, in the Niger Delta and Operation Delta Safe.”
We are collaborating to curb crude oil theft– NAPIMS GM.
Also speaking to the press, the General Manager of Joint Venture Operations, National Petroleum Investment Management Services, NAPIMS, Zakariya Buduwara, said “NNPCL has been on its toes in trying to bring stability to the host community. And the host community has helped try to see that we secure all oil and gas facilities, especially the one we saw, which has to do with the crude evacuation line.
Buduwara praised the joint efforts of Tanita, the NNPCL, stakeholders, including the community, government security agencies, and private and community contractors towards stopping crude oil theft in the region, saying that "Tantita has been doing a great job, all these we are doing to assure Nigerians that we are working to curb crude oil theft.
“We know the direct impact on the revenue and the people of the host communities and the environment.
"All you have seen is in demonstration of the collaborative efforts of everybody. Nobody can do it alone; it is the efforts of all the stakeholders.
“I am here on behalf of the Group Managing Director, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, and his lieutenants.”
We will start by holding NNPC, and SPDC accountable- OSPVI.
Meanwhile, a group called the Oil Spill Victims Initiative, OSPVI, has threatened to sue NNPCL and SPDC over the connection of the illegal pipelines used to steal the country’s crude oil.
The Executive Director of the group Harrison Jalla who spoke to journalists in Warri said, “There are many reports of crude oil theft in the Niger Delta, but we are particularly interested, in the theft of crude oil from the Forcados Terminal,”
They have been stealing our national heritage for the past nine years and no one can say for sure where it began. We want to start by holding the NNPC and SPDC accountable for the oil theft and the atrocities committed against the Niger Delta people,” he added.
"So many international oil companies have to account for this heist, but we want to start with the Shell Group because there is no way they could pipe crude oil from those terminals without the involvement of those running the terminal,” Jalla said.
SPV is a group dedicated to fighting for compensation for victims of oil spills, health hazards of gas flaring, and accountability in Nigeria’s extractive industry.
Falana says the destruction of stolen crude vessels by the military is a cover-up.
Human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana has condemned the destruction of vessels loaded with stolen crude oil by the Nigerian Navy.
Reacting to a statement credited to the chief of Defence Staff, CDS, Lucky Irabor,
Falana said “Apart from the sabotage of the national economy, the crime of oil theft has portrayed Nigeria as a nation where official impunity has been institutionalized by the government.
In his reaction made available to journalists, Falana disclosed that “In an embarrassing justification of the criminal conduct, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor said that the swift destruction of the oil bunkering vessel by the criminal suspects is in line with “the rules of engagement.”
"As if self-help has become part of the rules of engagement, the General said the vessel was caught in the act, and security agents subsequently set the “instrument of operation” ablaze, noting that no investigation is needed to act.
"It is trite law that only the Federal High Court is empowered to order the interim or final forfeiture of any vessel that was used for conveying stolen crude oil.
"Therefore, the statement credited to General Irabor is a deliberate attempt to cover up the involvement of military personnel in the serious crime of oil theft as there is no provision of the rules of engagement that authorizes military personnel or security operatives to set fire or destroy vessels loaded with stolen crude.”
Falana held that “the Chief of Defence Staff is not unaware that under the service law the burning of a ship or vessel by military personnel is a serious offense which attracts life imprisonment without an option of fine.
Falana further said that General Irabor should either resign his appointment or President Buhari should fire the CDS to prevent sabotage of the ongoing efforts to expose the oil thieves in the Niger Delta region. He also urged the president to ensure that the military personnel who set the vessels on fire are arrested and brought to justice.
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