Crude oil stealing vessel finally set abaze in Delta with remaining 150,000 MTs out of 800,000 litres stolen crude worth $86.86m

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Pix above: Destroyed vessel

More details emerged yesterday on the intrigues behind the interception and destruction of the 800,000-tonne capacity vessel bearing stolen crude oil.

The vessel, MT TURA II (IMO number: 6620462), was apprehended in the wee hours of last Friday by operatives of a private security firm, Tantita Security Services , after a weeklong surveillance of its movements.

According to Tantita Security Services, Tantita Security Services, a private security firm contracted by the NNPCL, the vessel was laden with 150,000 metric tonnes of stolen crude oil valued at $86,860,500.00 as at the time of its destruction.

The Nation reports that the vessel was conveying its cargo from Nigeria to Cameroon when it was intercepted at a location offshore Ondo State with 11 Nigerians and one Ghanaian on board.

Following its interception, it was anchored at the Oporoza-Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri South West Local Government Area (LGA) of Delta State.

It was gathered that the vessel had been caught twice with stolen crude in the past 12 years and handed over to the Navy, but it resurfaced again under a disguised name.

But it was set ablaze yesterday at exactly 1:09 pm, at a creek close to Bennett Island in Warri South West, despite another alleged intervention to have it handed over to the Navy.

Tantita’s Executive Director on Technical Operations, Captain Warredi Enisuoh, said the burning was executed by a team of the military, law enforcement agents, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Delta State government officials.

Tanita Security Services is owned by former Niger Delta warlord, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo.

Tompolo’s firm is under contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), for, among others, oil pipeline surveillance.

According to the NNPCL, MT TURA II is owned by a Nigeria Registered Company, Holab Maritime Services Limited with Registration Number RC813311.

The vessel’s original name was Ali-Riza-Bey, but it was altered to MT Tura 11 to evade security agents’ surveillance.

The State Online reports that Garba Deen Muhammad, NNPCL Chief Corporate Communications Officer in a statement had, 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