Naval Staff Chief says Crud Oil Theft Claims Unrealistic
The Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, has said because oil losses resulting from other sources are frequently counted as theft, it is significantly underestimated how much Nigeria is losing as a result of oil theft.
He started this during his appearance on Channels television’s current affairs programme, Newsnight, stating that these losses are then attributed to the effectiveness of security services.
“We need to understand the differences between oil theft and oil losses. While oil theft is siphoning crude oil from vandalised pipes into barges, oil losses occur when there is known production, especially during shut-ins and force majeures as the Federal Government does not earn the desired revenue it should,” he noted.
“Losses also occur due to metering errors on the operating platforms as read. But the volume of crude oil shot-ins from non-production is often added to figures for oil theft instead of declaring them as oil losses. This should not be.”
A five-ton barge would need to make 3,160 voyages to deliver 100,000 barrels of crude oil to a mother vessel in a day, according to Admiral Gambo, alluding to allegations that 20,000 to 200,000 barrels of crude oil are stolen per day in Nigeria.
“Most of these claims are definitely outrageous and unrealistic,” he maintained.
Even if there were enough barges to do this, the navy chief emphasised, it is highly improbable given the increased security presence in the creeks and estuaries and the ongoing operations designed to stop this kind of criminal behaviour.
