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The activities of private security operators in combating crude oil theft in Nigeria is estimated to have saved the nation economy over $43.2million daily.
One of the private security contractors of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, made this disclosure at the maiden edition of Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN) Annual Lecture, in Lagos, on Wednesday.
Speaking at the conference, the Executive Director, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, Capt. Warredi Enisuoh, observed that the Nigeria’s crude oil production has increased by more than 480,000 barrels which amounts to $43.2 million at $90 per barrel.
Warredi, who is also a former Director of Shipping Development at Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), highlighted the crucial roles of private security operators even as he revealed that perpetrators of crude oil theft have planted CCTV cameras in creeks to monitor their illicit activities.
“We have places where grass may not grow for the next 100 years because of crude oil theft and associated activities. In the past, these operators utilised fire to process the crude oil but they realized that security operators have drones and night vision capabilities to see the fire trails. So, they moved to electricity, but we discovered their illicit activities with electric and they translated to phosphoric acid. They pour the crude oil into several drums and pour phosphoric acid, then wait for six hours for the acid to convert the crude to diesel that will be fetched from the top.”
Capt. Warredi observed that having chased most of the perpetrators of crude oil theft away from the land areas, they restrategized and moved to the creeks to attack oil well heads.
“They connect hoses from the wellheads into their storage. These transactions usually take place at night as they go to the wellheads with canoes to fetch crude oil without minding the pollution or possibility of fire outbreak. If the pressure isn’t strong enough, they use a reservoir to fetch the oil. Some of these oil connections flow through cassava farms and farm settlements that you wouldn’t suspect to be involved in crude oil theft,” Warredi said.
Speaking on the activities of private security operators in Secure Anchorage Area (SAA), Warredi wondered why a nation would carve out a portion on water like a land and sell it to somebody.
“With SAA, a vessel is entering the place and you say no you cannot enter here because you did not pay. However, the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) declared the right of passage on the waters for vessels? Nigeria is a signatory to that law, so I am sorry if I made mistakes at that time with my conviction about SAA. Nonetheless, I still stand by it. I will never ever entertain a situation in my country where people will pay to access the waters,” Warredi opined.
Meanwhile, a former Director General of NIMASA, Barr. Temisan Omatseye argued that since the end of the SAA contract operated by Ocean Marine Solutions Limited (OMSL), foreign vessels spend an average of $50,000 for security patrols in the country.
Omatseye observed that OMSL SAA activities created a degree of comfort for global shipowners and it filled a lacuna in securing the anchorage area.
The former NIMASA boss suggested that the Deep Blue Project assets could be deployed to fill the missing role of SAA, stressing that service could be free or at a much-subsidized cost since the former operators were adjudged to be extorting shipowners.
He proposed a Response Zone Transit Corridor concept to create a patrolled transit corridor in the key high-risk areas in the Nigerian exclusive exclusive zone (EEZ).
In his welcome address, the President of MARAN, Mr. Godfrey Bivbere, expressed worry on the huge statistics in Nigerian crude oil theft; and the concomitant adverse effects it has had on the national economy.
“While MARAN is of the view that the establishment of the Gulf of Guinea Maritime Collaboration Forum for the Shared Awareness and Deconfliction (GOG-MCF/SHADE) has enabled industry partners within the region to connect and interface on the right strategies to raise the bar in tackling these challenges, l am constrained to say that the responses are not achieving set targets, effectively and efficiently.” he added.
