Taiwo Popoola
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited says security operatives uncovered 218 incidents of oil theft in the Niger Delta region between 7 and 13 September.
Also, the state-owned oil firm revealed that 31 persons were arrested in connection to oil theft in the period under review.
This was made known in a visual report by the NNPC.
The company noted that in Rivers State, four illegal pipelines said to be cleverly hidden and connected to a crude oil line were exposed.
“Between September 7 and 13, 2024, a total of 218 incidences were recorded across several locations in the Niger Delta region from various incident sources like Tantita Security Agency, Shell Petroleum Development Company, Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited, Maton Engineering Nigeria Limited, Oando PLC, NNPC Limited’s Command and Control Centres and government security agencies.
“These pipelines had been siphoning off precious resources from the nation’s coffers,” the NNPC stated.
The incidents were spread across different corridors: 32 in the western corridor, 61 in the central corridor, 77 in the eastern corridor and 48 in deep blue water.
“In total, 35 suspects were arrested during this period, all of whom have been handed over to government security agencies for further investigation,” the energy company reported.
In the past, the Group Managing Director of NNPCL, Mele Kyari has blamed oil theft as a major challenge to Nigeria’s crude oil production.
