Nigeria dismantles 63 illegal refineries in fight against crude oil theft

19 August 2024 , 19:50

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Nigeria dismantles 63 illegal refineries in fight against crude oil theft

Nigerian authorities arrested 16 suspects and seized 63 illegal refineries across the country in a week-long operation aimed at combating crude oil theft, which has plagued the oil industry for years.

Organized crime groups are siphoning oil from pipelines and transporting it to makeshift refineries before they sell it abroad. Experts believe that most of the oil is stolen before it reaches the terminals.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited reported that, in just that one week at the beginning of August, 19 illegal connections were discovered on the pipelines. Investigators also found a barricaded well and a small lake of crude oil. Authorities seized 17 vehicles and 15 wooden boats used for transporting the stolen crude.

Investigators say that those involved in oil theft comprise a network of international players who collaborate with local agents and influential groups within the country to steal oil from both onshore and offshore facilities and secretly transport it out of Nigeria via vessels. Crude oil theft is a menace that has severely impacted the country’s revenues, despite ongoing government efforts to end it in the Niger Delta region.

Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, stated a year ago that the country is losing 400,000 barrels of oil per day to crude oil thieves. 

Alexander Sewell, a researcher associated with the Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN), told Le Monde that crude oil theft is a transnational issue, extending far beyond Nigeria’s borders to reach Togo, Ghana, Lebanon, and India.

Some believe there is a serious lack of will among Nigerian authorities to identify and punish the thieves. 

"The government should know; they should tell us. Look at America—Donald Trump was shot at, and they quickly knew the background of who shot him. Our security agencies should tell us who is stealing our oil. You bring vessels into our territorial waters, and we don’t know?" Tony Elumelu, chairman of Heirs Holdings, a leading investment company in Africa, questioned.

Now, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company has taken the lead in a new crackdown on oil theft and other illegal activities that deplete its revenues.

Elizabeth Baker