From Anthony Nwachukwu, Lagos
Nigeria is saved over $43.2 million daily by the private security operators combating crude oil theft, a private security contractor with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, has claimed.
The company’s Executive Director, Capt. Warredi Enisuoh, who disclosed this at the maiden Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN) Annual Lecture in Lagos, noted that due to the activities of the private security operators, Nigeria’s crude oil production has increased by over 480,000 barrels/day, amounting to $43.2 million at $90 per barrel.
Warredi, who is also a former Director of Shipping Development at the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), revealed that perpetrators of crude oil theft have CCTV cameras in creeks to monitor their illicit activities.
“We have places where grass may not grow for the next 100 years because of crude oil theft and associated activities,” he observed. “In the past, these operators utilised fire to process the crude oil but they realised that security operators have drones and night vision capabilities to see the fire trails.
“So, they moved to electricity, but we discovered their illicit activities with electric and they moved to phosphoric acid. They pour the crude oil into several drums and pour phosphoric acid, then wait for six hours for the acid to convert the crude to diesel that will be fetched from the top.”
He explained that having been chased away from the land areas, most of the perpetrators of crude oil theft restrategised and moved to the creeks to attack oil wellheads: “They connect hoses from the wellheads into their storage.
“These transactions usually take place at night, as they go to the wellheads with canoes to fetch crude oil without minding the pollution or possibility of fire outbreak. If the pressure isn’t strong enough, they use a reservoir to fetch the oil.
“Some of these oil connections flow through cassava farms and farm settlements that you wouldn’t suspect to be involved in crude oil theft.”
Meanwhile, he frowned at the Federal Government’s creation of Secure Anchorage Area (SAA) for private security operators, wondering why a nation would carve out a portion on water like land and sell it to somebody.
“With SAA, a vessel is entering the place and you say ‘no, you cannot enter here because you did not pay. However, the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) declared the right of passage on the waters for vessels,” he observed.
“Nigeria is a signatory to that law, so I am sorry if I made mistakes at that time with my conviction about SAA. Nonetheless, I still stand by it. I will never ever entertain a situation in my country where people will pay to access the waters.”
