Big principalities and powers in gov’t responsible for crude oil theft – Shell boss

by Rachel Ogbu

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Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company, Mutiu Sunmonu, said on Wednesday that the best way to solve the problem of crude oil theft was to find out who the sponsors were and deal with them because they are working here in the government.

“The truth is that the small criminals in the creeks of Niger Delta bursting pipelines and stealing crude oil are not working for themselves. Like the drug cartels around the world, they are being sponsored by big principalities and powers in high places, which the government should go against if the fight against crude oil theft is to be won,” he said.

Sunmonu, who spoke at the ongoing Nigeria Oil and Gas 2013 Exhibition and Conference, said the oil companies have privately and publicly blamed the government for its failure to provide security for the pipelines despite the fact that they pay all the charges and taxes the government asks of them.

He said though it was commendable for the government to take the initiative of discussing with foreign countries suspected to hold the proceeds from the sale of stolen crude oil, Sunmonu said the criminals who sabotaged crude oil pipelines in the Niger Delta were only working for bigger entities that should be found out and dealt with.

The Punch report:

The Shell boss said efforts should be made by all stakeholders to tackle the problem of poverty among the people, adding that if this was taken care of, the problem would have been half solved, as the perpetrators would not have any reason to allow themselves to be used to steal the country’s commonwealth.

Sunmonu said Shell and other International Oil Companies operating in Nigeria have had their pipelines sabotaged by crude oil thieves on several occasions.

He also said the setback in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill was one of the several difficulties hindering Shell’s planned investment of about $30bn in two offshore deepwater projects in the country.

The Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Abiye Membere, similarly said the country’s total crude loss to bunkering activities had dropped from 150,000 barrels per day to 80,000bpd towards the end of 2012.

Membere said the government’s security measures to curtail the menace of oil theft in the country had so far yielded results and that the volume of crude stolen from the country had now dropped from 150,000bpd to 80,000bpd as of the end of last year.

 

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