The Federal Government has confirmed that its security
forces seized a ship carrying 300 tonnes of illegally refined diesel and
arrested 11 people as part of efforts to curb oil theft that officials estimate
siphon about  one-fifth of the country’s
output.

Oil theft from
Nigeria is a major cause of complaint from oil companies and the finance
ministry, both of which lose revenue from thieves hacking into pipelines in
operations known as “bunkering”. The oil is sold abroad as crude or refined for
the local market.

According to  the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on August 15, 2012, the
commission took possession of an illegal oil bunkering vessel suspected to be
carrying 300 metric tonnes of illegally refined
diesel.

It said the boat had been chased by authorities last week
but had escaped, although one of its crew died when he fell over the side. The
vessel was later tracked and seized. .However, the captain of the ship escaped,
it added.

Owing to an amnesty in 2009, militancy in the swamps and creeks
of the Niger Delta had calmed down but theft
intensified. According to Royal Dutch Shell bunkering siphons at least
150,000 barrels of oil per day from Nigeria’s two million barrel per day
production.