The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd has documented a total of 400 incidents of crude oil theft in the past week.
This information was derived from the company’s weekly initiative titled “Energy and You,” which specifies that these incidents encompass illegal refineries, unauthorized connections, acts of vandalism, oil spills, illicit storage sites, and other related occurrences.
As reported by the company, there were 165 instances of illegal refineries during the week spanning from the 15th to the 21st of June 2024. Additionally, there were 69 cases of unauthorized connections, 15 instances of vandalism, 8 occurrences of oil spillage, 19 cases of illegal storage facilities, and 74 instances of vessel AIS violations.
The NNPC highlighted that these incidents were reported by various entities including Tantitta Security Ltd, Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (PINL), SPDC, NNPC Command and Control Centre, Maton Engineering, government security agencies, and other relevant parties.
Moreover, the NNPC disclosed that the majority of the 400 recorded incidents during the week took place in the Western region of Rivers and Bayelsa states, amounting to 265 cases.
Following this, the deep blue waters off the coast of the Niger Delta witnessed 74 incidents, while the Eastern region experienced approximately 65 cases, and the Western Niger Delta saw around 26 occurrences predominantly concentrated in Delta state.
Throughout the specified period, security agencies and stakeholders in the oil and gas sector apprehended about 8 suspects.
The nearly unprecedented surge in crude oil thefts within a single week exemplifies the current state of the Nigerian oil industry, characterized by consistent production levels below expectations and diminishing investment trends.
The illicit activities surrounding crude oil theft in the Niger Delta have resulted in severe damage to the region’s natural environment, decreased revenues for the federal government, and disinvestment from onshore fields by major international oil companies.
According to the monthly oil market report by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Nigeria has continuously fallen short of meeting its OPEC+ oil production target of 1.5 million barrels per day. In May, crude oil production plummeted to 1.25 million bpd as reported by OPEC.
Beyond the decline in oil production, the prevalence of theft and insecurity in the Niger Delta has led to a substantial reduction in investments within the country’s oil and gas sector, prompting disinvestment by key oil giants such as Exxon, Shell, and TotalEnergies.
Earlier this year, Shell announced the divestment of its onshore operations in Nigeria for approximately $1.3 billion to the Rennaissance consortium, a collective of local industry players.
In the previous year, Equinor disclosed intentions to exit the Nigerian oil sector after nearly three decades of operations in the country, while ExxonMobil’s disposal of its assets to Seplat has been caught in regulatory uncertainty for almost two years.
