The Itsekiri Regional De
velopment Council has accused oil companies and military men of being involved in the illegal crude oil bunkering deals in the Niger Delta region.
Chairman of the body, Chief Ayirimi Emami alleged this at the second Delta Oil and Gas Stakeholders Conference held in Effurun, Delta State.
Chief Emami who spoke at the event said the International Oil Companies, Joint Task Force and the host communities could not feign ignorance of the situation which results in a daily loss of about 300,000 barrels of coude oil valued at $30.5m.
“Poverty is the origin of oil theft we, (the host communities) are all suffering. Everybody is involved actively and passively. The communities, oil multinationals and the armed forces, are all involved,” he sated.
The group leader further explained that host communities benefit through handouts and other forms, hence they keep quite and would not offer information or report those involved.
On the involvement of the military, chief Emami said Delta State has three entry and exit points-Escravos,Forcados and Ogheye in Warri South West, Burute and Warri North local government areas, respectively adding that there was no way a vessel can enter or leave without the military men seeing it.
If they are not involved, he wondered, how do the illegal bunkering vessels pass?
His position was supported by the Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan who submitted that all boats are stopped at the check points and he as a governor was being stopped every line and wondered if he as a governor was being stopped, how the boats find their ways through the check without the knowledge of the military.
Chief Emami also defended his accusation on the oil companies saying the technical skills needed to carryout illegal bunkering operations were beyond the knowledge of a layman and urged the oil multinationals to also look inward in their quest for answers to illegal bunkering.
He further alleged that the companies were insincere in reporting illegal bunkering by exaggerating figures and volumes for fraudulent reasons.
“If one barrel of crude is stolen, the oil companies would say it is 10 and the balance goes into their account and through that, they benefit from the crime,” he said.
Other speakers in the stakeholders’ conference supported the submission of Itsekiri Reginal Development Council.
Meanwhile, the managing director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Mutiu
Sunmonu has lamented the scope of illegal bunkering activities and said the operations involve trained engineers.
He said he could not vouch for thousands of workers attached to hundreds of contractors working for the company.
The Shell boss who was represented at the conference by Manager, Ogoni Restoration Project, Austin Igbuku said concerted efforts were urgently needed at local, national, regional and international levels to address the crude oil theft.
He said such action plan should include improved intelligence gathering, stronger policing and the prosecution of suspected criminals.
According to him, “there is now an understanding within the industry and government that the scale and complexity of the problems is beyond the control of any company, governor, committee or even country “ and called for co-ordinated action that should include conferences by stakeholders.