The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has said the Corporation is working towards the deployment of drones across the nation’s territorial waters to monitor the movement of oil bearing vessels.
He said this in a presentation at the special conference on Security in the Gulf of Guinea organized by the Gusau Institute, a statement from the Corporation said.
Dr. Kachikwu also said that the Corporation is working on a range of far reaching options designed to end the ugly episodes of crude and petroleum products theft within the next eight months.
“We are launching an armada of approaches which will include incorporation of drones to check movements of vessels within our territorial waters; We are looking at the current logistical nightmares of changing staffing at the loading bay of crude oil export terminals virtually every 90 days, We are trying to equip the navy sufficiently though they are very well equipped in terms of skill set but not in terms of arsenal for patrols within the maritime area,” he said.
Lamenting the impact of oil theft on the smooth operations of the nation’s refineries, the NNPC GMD warned that if left unchecked, the menace could invariably make it impossible for the NNPC to operate the refineries.
“Most of our product pipelines are ruptured and attacked frequently. For instance between June 2014 and June 2015, we recorded about 3, 500 to 4,000 attempts at the various products pipelines across the country. In addition to that, the pipelines that are supposed to convey crude to the refineries are perpetually hacked, ’’ he added.
Dr. Kachikwu noted that the resort to the use of marine vessels to convey crude to the refineries is coming at heavy cost.
“What this means is that no matter what we do with the refineries today, unless that is solved, we really are going nowhere, we cannot operate the refineries.”
He explained that beyond the loss of crude and products, the incidents of oil theft have also claimed a huge number of human lives. He informed that in the last three years a total of 350 persons including NNPC staff, Police officers, Community members have been killed as a result of activities of oil thieves.
