The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) yesterday disclosed the arrests of 16 suspects from 163 oil theft incidents in one week in the Niger Delta region.
In an X post (former Twitter) yesterday, the company detailed the summary of activities from November 25 to December 1, in the fight against crude oil theft, the oil firm said 69 illegal refineries have been uncovered.
It said during the period under review, a total of 163 incidents were recorded in the region.
No fewer than 41 wooden boats transporting stolen crude were confiscated in Bayelsa State, and 10 illegal storage sites and 10 illegal connections were also discovered in the last week.
It noted that on November 28, Tantita Security Services, a private security company, in conjunction with government security agencies during a routine surveillance along the western corridor, discovered a large illegal connection point on a Trans Escravos pipeline in Udiabo, Delta State.
The statement noted that 14 of the incidents took place in the deep blue water, 62 in the Eastern region, 35 in the Central region, and 52 took place in the Western region, in the past week 16 suspects were arrested.
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“For NNPCL, there is backing down on the war on crude oil theft until the menace is eradicated for good.
“The partnership between the NNPCL and private security firm yielded significant impact with the growth of the oil sector rising to 13.43 per cent (year-on-year) in Q2 2023, indicating a decrease of 1.66 per cent points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 (-11.77 per cent).
“In September 2023, the oil sector witnessed a significant boom as the country’s output was about 14 per cent higher than what it pumped in the preceding month of August 2023.
“Nigeria’s crude oil output rose to an all-time high of 1.35 million barrels per day in September, as it’s pumped its highest volume of crude oil so far since this year,” the statement noted.
