FG Loses N196.7bn To Crude Oil Thieves In Six Months …Shell Fingers Illegal Bunkering

The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) said it lost 12.58 million barrels of crude oil between December 2011 and June this year to illegal bunkering.

The company’s Operation’s Manager, Swamp 1, East, Mr Mesh Maichibi,  gave the figure to newsmen on Saturday during an over-flight of the Nembe Creek Trunk line (NCTL) in Rivers and Bayelsa states.

The Tide estimates that at $99 per barrel on an exchange rate of N158 per dollars the loss translates to a whooping N196.776billion.

This also means that the above amount has been denied the federal government in its revenue appropriation  this year.

Maichibi said that out of the number, 1.44 million barrels were deferred due to low pressure on the trunk line caused by trip-offs during the illegal bunkering activities.

He explained that when crude oil stayed under ground and did not come out for use, it was called deferment since there was a loss in production.

The operation’s manager said the NCTL consisted of two major trunk lines, San Batholomew and Cawthorne Channel Junction Manifold, adding that crude oil theft on the facilities had increased recently.

Maichibi explained that the Trunk lines, re-commissioned in 2010, had not experienced any significant oil theft until December 24, 2011 when a major spill of 245 barrels was reported on it.

He said that the spill was at the Tora manifold and was caused by two failed six inches bunkering connections.

“The repairs required installation of coffer dams and took till January 23, at a total production deferment of 4.3 million barrels.

“Since the restart of production on January 23, there has been multiple facility trips caused by pressure drops, resulting from illegal off take.

“Once there are massive illegal bunkering activities, the pressure on the affected facility will drop and trip off,” Maichibi explained.

He said that in May, the trunk line was shut down for 25 days and in June for 26 days due to leaks on failed illegal bunkering and fire at the Alakiri-Bonny line.

Maichibi said that from 2007 to 2010, the entire NCTL from Nembe 1 Manifold to Cawthorne Channel Manifold was replaced with a new 24″/30″ pipeline at the cost $960 million, explaining that the replacement was necessitated by integrity issue resulting from militancy attacks, adding that the pipeline was designed for maximum gross output of 600,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole (right), his deputy , Dr Pius Odubu and Senator Chris Ngige, at a news conference on the governor's election victory in Benin, yesterday