EDITORIAL: Who is stealing Nigeria’s crude oil?

Recently born Nigerian economist and businessman Tony Elumelu said the federal government and state agencies should be able to pin down Nigerians who steal crude oil from the country, especially if it involves ships passing through territorial waters.

Elumelu said in an interview published in the Financial Times over the weekend that the oil theft has contributed to the divestment of international oil companies from Nigeria.

He said he had learned firsthand why international oil companies partially pulled out of their onshore assets after criminal gangs began stealing crude from his pipelines, pointing out that oil thieves still take 18 percent of the crude from his field.

“42,000 barrels of crude are pumped out every day. Theft still costs about 18 percent of production,” he said.

Asked who was behind the theft, he said: “This is oil theft, we are not talking about stealing a bottle of coke that you can put in your pocket. The government should know, they should tell us. Look at America, Donald Trump was shot and very soon they knew the background of who shot him. Our security services should tell us who is stealing our oil. You bring ships into our territorial waters and we don’t know?”

It is not the first time that someone has wondered how ships enter Nigeria’s territorial waters to steal precious resources.

The Nigerian Navy, in cooperation with neighbouring countries in the Gulf of Guinea, has also repeatedly intercepted and arrested such theft vessels.

Earlier this month, the Nigerian Navy reported that its teams operating under Operation Delta Sanity seized a Ghanaian vessel with 13 crew members for alleged theft of crude oil. The crew consisted of one Ghanaian and 12 Nigerians on board the Ghanaian flagged and registered vessel, known as Motor Tanker SWEET MIRI.

The Navy’s Director of Information, Rear Admiral Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan, said in a statement on Monday, August 10, in Abuja that the operation was carried out on February 25 about 174 nm (about 320 km) off the coast of Nigeria.

“The MT SWEET MIRI was discovered to be involved in illegal activities and the vessel was subsequently arrested. Strangely enough, the suspicious behaviour of the vessel necessitated the swift deployment of the Nigerian Navy Ship ABA and the Nigerian Navy Ship SOKOTO to intercept the vessel. Notably, upon arrest, the MT SWEET MIRI was found to be carrying approximately two million litres of product suspected to be crude oil without any form of approval from the relevant authorities,” he said.

In August 2022, the Nigerian Navy also arrested a supertanker near the Akpo oil field that entered the Bonny axis of Nigerian territorial waters to steal crude oil.

During the prosecution, which was conducted under the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences (SPOMO) Act, 2019, it was established that the vessel was owned by a foreigner and that all the 26 crew members were also nationals of different countries. The suspects and the vessels were later released under suspicious circumstances after reaching a settlement of N3 million.

The MT Heroic Idun and her owners were ordered to pay a fine of 5 million naira as punishment for the charges and 15 million dollars in damages to Nigeria. They were also ordered to apologize to the Federal Republic of Nigeria in print and electronic media as well as to Lloyd’s List. The Federal Government agreed not to pursue any further criminal charges against the vessel, her owners, charterers or crew in the matter of her crime against the state, as per the terms of the plea agreement, without which the vessel and her crew would not be released.

On the other hand, some analysts claim that the oil robbery in the Niger Delta is a collaboration between some big sponsors and the guys who actually carry out the act.

We believe that such a statement from a businessman with an international reputation is cause for concern. It will be even more worrying if the federal government and security services or insiders in the oil production sector are actually innocent of this illegal act and no conscious effort has been made to stop the trend.

We therefore believe that the relevant authorities (EFCC, ICPC, DSS) should launch a full-scale investigation to identify those responsible for the illegal bunkering of Nigerian crude oil on the high seas.

The post MAIN ARTICLE: Who is stealing Nigeria’s crude oil? appeared first on Naturenews.africa.