Oil major, Chevron Nigeria Limited has said crude oil theft, illegal oil refining and pipeline vandalism are major threats to Nigeria’s economy.
Chevron in a position paper presented at a one-day seminar on advocacy against crude oil theft in Warri, Delta State, said these challenges have continued to make it difficult for the country to meet its revenue projection, and at the same time have polluted the environment in the Niger Delta region.
Chevron said oil spills and explosions have become regular occurrences in the oil-rich region because of pipeline vandalism and bunkering, saying these have left oil pipelines vulnerable to leaks, spills and major accidents.
It said though the estimate of how much oil was stolen per day in Nigeria varies, the British Think-Tank ‘Chatham House’ reported that over 100,000 barrels of oil were estimated to be stolen per day.
“Also the United Nations Security Council estimates that Nigeria lost $2.8 billion of revenue to oil theft in 2017. It has also been reported that everyday, oil companies in Nigeria lose between 300,000 and 400,000 barrels of oil to illegal oil theft,” it added.
It further noted that every International Oil Company (IOC) and indigenous operator in Nigeria, have been affected one way or the other by the activities of oil thieves, engaging in illegal bunkering and local refining operations.
On the recent fire outbreak which affected Ojumole well No 1, owned by CNL/NNPC joint venture, Chevron said the fire incident might have been caused by third party interference, noting that the affected Well Head was idle and plugged well with no flow line connected to it.
The oil giant lamented that it was always easy for people to blame the oil companies when such incidents occur, while nobody cared to stand up to condemn the criminal activities of the oil thieves.
Speaking on the way forward, the company said one solution to the issue of illegal oil bunkering, is the establishment of modular refineries in the region, adding that the Federal Government must express commitment to pursuing the goal of establishing such refineries.
