Nigeria’s Consciously-Exposed Crude Oil Pipelines

RingTrue By Yemi Adebowale

Phone 08054699539

It is disgraceful that for the first time in 50 years, Nigeria is unable to meet its crude oil quota. The quota is 1.8 million barrels per day but this country is struggling to deliver around 900,000 barrels, no thanks to theft and shut-in of wells caused by vandals. The crises assumed this deadly dimension in the last quarter of 2021. So, for about a year now, Nigeria has hugely increased production of crude oil for thieves. For example, at the Brass terminal in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Eni, an Italian oil firm, reported that a low amount of oil was reaching the terminal because of extensive illegal bunkering. The Trans-Niger Pipeline, capable of transporting about 180,000 barrels of crude per day, has ceased work due to theft. Bonny terminal is similarly recording zero.

Production companies have been forced to shut-in wells in several fields, equally caused by thieves, who have damaged transportation pipelines. There is also the troubled Forcados terminal, forced to shut down for several months now, resulting in the loss of 258,000 barrels a day. Since August last year, Shell has been repairing a subsea hose which stopped the export of Forcados crude, one of the country’s largest export grades. This is the same Forcados where an illegal oil connection was used for oil theft for years. It was discovered after the impairment to the terminal. There is indeed a multiple-barrel attack on crude oil production in Nigeria.

The theft of Nigerian crude oil has been on for years. This is no news. Crude theft has always been a “legal and registered” business. But for this current unprecedented level that disrupted this country’s OPEC quota, the noise by government won’t be this loud. The truth those in government and the NNPC are running away from, is that it is impossible for crude oil to be stolen without the connivance of security agencies. This country has an armada of security agencies in the Niger Delta and on the high sea, monitoring facilities and movements, without result. This is disgusting.

The biggest problem this country is facing now is that the man that should be asking proactive questions about the failings of all our security agencies regarding crude oil theft has not been doing so in the manner it should be done. I stand to be corrected. There are hardly penalties for crude oil breaches from the Commander-in Chief. I’m talking about President Muhammadu Buhari. Our President must persistently demand results because this country has huge number of security men monitoring oil facilities.

Just last April, the Nigerian Navy further inaugurated what is evidently its biggest operation aimed at ending theft and illegal refining, with the deployment of 40 ships, five helicopters and 200 boats for “Operation Dakatar Da Barawo” (stop the thief) across the region. Yes, 40 ships and thousands of personnel!

I vividly recall the NNPC boss, Mele Kyari, assuring Nigerians on that day that with this special operation by the Navy, Nigerians would begin to see measurable results in two to three weeks. It is almost six months and nothing has changed. Rather, things are deteriorating. So, where are the Navy’s “resolute and deep commitments” to end the menace of crude oil theft, as avowed by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, last April?

What happened to Gambo’s promise, while inaugurating “Operation Dakatar Da Barawo” to ensure the unhindered exploration and exploitation of the nation’s maritime resources for national development? What happened to the CNS’s vow that the Nigerian Navy, under his watch, remains committed to eradicating all acts of criminality in Nigeria’s maritime domain and by extension, the Gulf of Guinea for the economic wellbeing of the people? What happened to his promise that the Navy would dominate the nation’s backwaters through aggressive and intelligence-driven patrols?

I clearly heard the Navy Chief saying his men would be dedicated to monitoring pipelines, blocking identified strategic estuaries to prevent conveyance of stolen crude oil from inshore to sea and maintaining credible presence along the coastline of areas prone to crude oil theft.

Where are the Special Forces deployed by the Navy Chief? Obviously, the President has not been questioning Gambo. There have not been repercussions for the failings. Those who should be questioning Gambo and his boys are tactically silent. The Chief of Naval Staff himself estimates that Nigeria lost about $3.2 billion to crude oil theft and illegal bunkering between January 2021 and February 2022, yet, he has failed to end the menace.

Nigeria is bleeding as a result of huge losses to crude oil theft. Instead of tackling crude oil theft to increase revenue, the federal government is focusing on borrowing. That says a lot about a government that claims to be committed to ending crude oil theft. No wonder human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, recently alleged that about N17 billion allocated for acquiring technology needed to track the movement of crude oil by the Buhari government had been diverted.

Falana stated: “I have not been challenged, that on the 8th of August 2018, the Federal Executive Council approved N17 billion for the acquisition of software to track ships that are loading crude oil in Nigeria and to monitor where the crude oil is being taken to, and also to track tankers loading fuel anywhere in Nigeria and taking them wherever.”

The desperate NNPC recently awarded pipeline surveillance contracts to some private Nigeria companies to checkmate crude oil theft. It is expected to gulp over N130 billion this year. Have previous pipeline protections contracts awarded to these private firms yielded results? Kyari needs to answer this question. If he is honest, the answer will be a capital NO! The contract was just jobs for the boys. This latest contract would be free money for the three firms – Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited and Maton Engineering Nigeria Limited – and their sponsors.

The world has gone beyond this crude method of protecting crude oil pipelines. Mele Kyari should know this. Our security agents know this. NNPC should be talking about installing drone surveillance and attack stations for our oil and gas pipelines, instead of wasting money on useless pipeline surveillance contractors.

There is also a protection technology called PipeGuard, designed by an Israeli company. It significantly improves the security of buried gas and oil pipelines. PipeGuard is based on the principle of seismic sensing of underground vibration. Using highly sensitive geo-phones tuned and calibrated to the required wavelength, the system can detect intrusion signals at a significant distance.

In case a real threat is identified, the corresponding sensing unit transmits a message to the control room, alerting the security crew and guiding them to the location of the event. PipeGuard has a unique patented algorithm for analyzing signals and distinguishing an intrusion from background noise. In addition, PipeGuard defines the unique characteristic of each and every component of the overall signal, and then compares it to the signals stored in a vast library of seismic signal “footprints”.

Once there is a definite resemblance to a signal registered as a threat – the unit will declare an alarm, and the system will act accordingly. The unique capability to sense, analyse and identify a real threat immediately as it is introduced, enables the controller to take action and guide the closest response team to the accurate location of the event. In most cases, the system will notify the controller as early as the saboteur is organising himself in the vicinity of the pipe, by for example, unloading heavy equipment. In most cases, this will leave the pipelines’ security team with about 30 minutes to react before a contact with the pipe is made by the intruder.

The Nigerian government should be looking towards installing PipeGuard, if it is really interested in protecting this country’s oil and gas pipelines.

Evil Vladimir Putin

Seven days back, Pope Francis at St Peter’s Square appealed to Russia’s evil President Vladimir Putin to stop the “spiral of violence and death” in Ukraine. It was the first time the Pope will be directly addressing Putin. The head of the Catholic Church is haunted by “rivers of blood and tears” in Ukraine triggered by this mad man called Putin.

He also lamented the annexation of four Ukrainian regions by Russia’s troops, saying it risked nuclear escalation, hence urging Putin to think of his own people.

Putin belittles life. He is of low minds and has no conscience. He brazenly proclaimed the annexation of the four partially occupied Ukrainian regions, calling the residents of occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia “our citizens forever”. He is obviously senseless. Is there any country in the world that will allow any part to secede? Will he allow this in Russia? This is a man that brutally repelled separatists in Chechnya, killing thousands of Muslims. Putin is inflicting so much pain on innocent people in Ukraine because of his territorial ambition.

Begging calamity Putin is no longer necessary. He is already feeling the heat of his irrational invasion of Ukraine, with hundreds of Russian soldiers killed. I am consoled by this fact. Malicious Putin thought the invasion was going to be a walk in the park. Ukrainian soldiers are proving to be a formidable force. Many Ukrainian territories have been regained and Russian invaders pushed to the North of the country. Thousands of Russian reserves called to check the Ukrainian progress are fleeing the country. I see Putin pulling out in shame or Russian Generals killing him and pulling out of Ukraine. One thing is certain: Forces of good will soon overrun Putin’s forces of evil.

Tears Not Needed for Father Mbaka

By now, the Chaplain/Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry Chaplaincy, Enugu, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka must be struggling to adjust to life in a monastery. This is his new pastoral place of work, thanks to the Enugu Diocese of the Catholic Church. The notorious clergy was this week transferred to the monastery by the Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Most Rev Callistus Onaga.

Fr. Mbaka’s followers are rebelling against the decision. The new Chaplain, Rev Fr Anthony Amadi was initially chased out of the ministry by adorers, as Mbaka’s followers are fondly called. A priest is moved by his Bishop and his followers go about making noise. Wonders shall never end in this country. This is absolutely unnecessary. The Catholic Bishop of Enugu, as the Chief Shepherd, with the obligation to promote and safeguard the Catholic faith and morals in the diocese, has the power to send Mbaka anywhere.

Besides, Mbaka, a “political cleric” and master of double talk, deserves a new challenge that will take him away from mischiefs for a while, as politics become intense ahead of 2023.

For Mbaka, his unhappiness about this fresh posting is logical after enjoying a good time at the Adoration ground. Mbaka is weeping because he has lost his big apple. At the Adoration ground, whenever Mbaka makes biting political statements, it resonates across the nation, generating praise and disgust, depending on the side one belongs.

This priest has profited a great deal in the name of God with his “divinely-inspired” messages. The result is obvious. His business empire is now stretching from manufacturing to schools. His followers also purchase a customised recharge card at different rates through which they call him for prayers and counseling. Mbaka’s companies, under the parent name of Aquarapha, produces consumables such as sachet water, bottle water, vegetable oil, yoghurt and olive oil. He also owns a recycling plant, and produces exercise books, AMEN stickers, AMEN recharge cards and AMEN prayer books. With his array of companies, Mbaka has proved how profitable it is to do business in the name of God. What a lucky chap.