800,000 litres of Nigerian crude oil stolen in one fell swoop out of total production of 1.6m barrels per day…As NNPL moves to destroy stealing vessel to serve as deterrent to others

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The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) says it has arrested a vessel laden with 800,000 litres of stolen crude oil from a well jacket offshore Ondo State.

And to serve as deterrent to such act of economic sabotage, the company said it is set to destroy the conveying vessel intercepted by Tantita Security Services, a private security firm contracted by the NNPCL.

The Vessel — MT TURA II (IMO number: 6620462) is owned by a Nigerian registered company, Holab Maritime Services Ltd.

Garba Deen Muhammad, NNPCL Chief Corporate Communications Officer in a statement on Monday, insisted that the vessel will be destroyed to serve as a deterrent to those engaging in such illegal activities.

He said: “Preliminary investigations revealed that the crude oil cargo onboard was illegally sourced from a well jacket offshore Ondo State, Nigeria. There was no valid documentation for the Vessel or the Crude Oil Cargo onboard at the time of the arrest.

“Further investigation into the activities of the vessel at the NNPC Ltd. Command and Control Centre also revealed that the Vessel has been operating in stealth mode for the last twelve (12) years. The last reported location of the Vessel was Tin Can Port in July 2011.

“Destroying vessels involved in transporting stolen crude oil is of paramount importance as a strong deterrent. The illegal trade of stolen crude oil not only inflicts significant economic losses on Nigeria and legitimate stakeholders in the oil industry,” the spokesman said in the statement.

Investigation reveals that Nigeria’s daily oil production is back to 1.6 million barrels of oil per day, a significant increase from the 1 million barrel per day in December 2022.

According to a Senate Committee report on oil theft in Nigeria between January and August 2022, Nigeria lost N1.3tr ($2 billion), a huge dent to the nation’s economy.

The surge in oil production is due to the technological advancement of the security architecture in the command and control centre whereby all security issues are now seen in real time.

He said: “NNPC Ltd. assures Nigerians that we will sustain the momentum in the war against crude oil theft until it is brought to a halt.”/SHARE THIS