The Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) has called on the international community to criminalise the buying of stolen Nigerian crude and treat it as “blood crude.’’

The Manager, Public Affairs and External Relations of PPMC, Mr Nasir Imodagbe, made the call in an interview with newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.

He said the move would curb pipeline vandalism in Nigeria.

He added that the international community must collaborate with the Nigerian government to ban the sale of stolen Nigerian crude abroad just like it was done for stolen diamonds from Congo and Sierra Leone.

“You will recall that the international community came hard on stolen diamonds from Sierra Leone and Congo in the past and the diamonds were labelled as ‘blood diamonds.’

“I think the international community needs to also take that kind of stand for stolen Nigerian crude to stop oil theft in the country,’’ he said.

The PPMC official also urged the Federal Government to use diplomatic means to stop the thriving market for stolen Nigerian crude abroad.

“I think the Federal Government needs to utilise all diplomatic means and engage the international community in criminalising the sale of stolen Nigerian crude abroad.

“We need to put in place policies and mechanism that will make the sale of our stolen crude very difficult.’’

Imodagbe said pipeline vandalism posed a big challenge to the operations of the PPMC and the NNPC and affected the supply of petroleum products across the country.

The manager said that the PPMC was already working on a number of measures and intensifying collaboration with security operatives to increase surveillance and stem the vandalism.

He suggested the use of technologically-advanced gadgets, stiff legislation, robust security network and public enlightenment.

The PPMC official stressed the need to upgrade most of the archaic pipeline network in the country in line with international best practices.

He also suggested the use of the Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) technology in re-laying some pipelines “since it involves burying the pipelines deeper inside the ground outside the reach of the vandals.’’

He, however, added that the HDD was a capital intensive project that might cost a lot of money to implement.

The PPMC, he said, was already exploring the use of electronic monitoring devices on the pipelines and quick response teams which would attend to distress calls from the control room.

He urged stakeholders in the oil and gas sector to join the government to sensitise host communities to the dangers of pipeline vandalism and oil theft to the environment and the economy.

According to the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, the nation loses about 180,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) to crude thieves, translating to seven billion dollars annually.

She also said that about five billion dollars was spent on the repairs of vandalised pipelines in 2011.

“About five billion dollars was spent in the last one year (2011) on pipeline repairs, while the amount lost to crude theft was valued at seven billion dollars,’’ she said.

Recently, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr Andrew Yakubu, said that the NNPC recorded 1,498 breaches in its pipelines in the last quarter of 2012.

He said that “between the Atlas Cove and the Mosimi depot, we recorded 181 break points, from Mosimi to Ibadan, we had 421 ruptured points and from Mosimi to Ore, we recorded 50 vandalised points.

“Also, between Ibadan and Ilorin, we had a total of 122 break points.’’