House C’ttee Seeks Navy’s Collaboration to Fish Out Crude Oil Thieves

Juliet Akoje in Abuja

The House of Representatives’ Special Committee on Crude Oil Theft and Losses, has appealed to the Nigerian Navy to assist it with relevant information to unravel those behind the perennial stealing of the country’s crude oil.
The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Ado Doguwa, made the appeal during a special engagement with the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla over the weekend.

Doguwa stressed that  crude oil theft remains a major concern to the economy of the country, noting that there was the need to extend the hand of fellowship to the relevant security stakeholders that have long been existing in the space to fight against the criminalities.
“You can all recall that the recent projection for the year 2024, the parliament budgeted about N28.77 trillion based on crude oil bench mark of $77.96 per barrel and the production of 1.78 million barrels per day.

“ In January 2024, Nigeria’s oil production rose to about 1.42 million barrels per day, this represents an increase of about 6.85 per cent compared to the  production figure of 1.39 million barrels per day in December 2023.
“Though there seemed to be a gradual improvement of oil production, but we are still bellow the OPEC quota of 1.58 million barrels per day in the 2024 budget benchmark. The major reason the country is not meeting her production targets is largely attributed to crude oil theft .
“ This theft is being carried out in collusion, that not only threaten the economy of the country but has even precipitated crisis bothering on national security,” he stated.

In order to address the criminalities, he said the house instituted the special committee and charged it with the responsibility of  investigating all dimensions of oil theft  with a view to bringing all culprits to book.
He noted that the committee had since commenced legislative work, engaging strategic stakeholders, and will soon begin public investigative hearings on identified malpractices.

He said that on February 9, 2024, the committee visited a site of arrested two vessels in Delta State, for involvement in crude oil theft, noting that the occurrences calls for an overhaul of the security architecture around the oil and gas infrastructure and the nation’s marine environment.
“We need to strengthen collaboration among the security agencies and also the private security that we have on ground,” he stated.
Ogalla, while responding agreed that oil theft is a major challenge to the country’s economy and highlighted the recent report by the national oil company of the rise of crude oil production to about 1.78 million bpd.

He said this was the highest in last three years, but  still being below Nigeria’s OPEC quota, giving assurance that the Navy will work in collaboration with others to ensure the quota is met.

Ogalla lamented the shortage of personnel in the face of the vastness of the country’s waterways which he said was over 1/10th of Nigeria land space, saying the Navy has less than 30,000 personnel to man the vast sea space with operational guideline of policing, enforcing and assisting in coordinating enforcement.

The Naval chief, while stressing that some of the roles in securing the waterways were not exclusive to the Navy, said the Navy has adopted a framework for a total maritime safety strategy.

But he stated that there must be adequate collaboration with other agencies, and working with communities,  international organizations and others.

“The Nigerian Navy has been doing a lot in tackling crude oil theft, but it does not say much about that in the media. Thirty Four vessels have been arrested between July 2023 to date, and have been subjected to requisite investigation, with some already facing prosecution by the concerned agencies, including the police.

“We we have a big task to ensure that we meet the oil production target in the budget. You also stated that there has been a gradual increase in our crude oil production, that is a fact.

“When we came on board last year, it was may be 1.1 million bpd, and like you stated, we now have 1.4 million bpd, which is still below our OPEC quota…all these improvements are not yet enough because we have not met the quota, but we the capacity to meet the quota,” he stated.

Speaking on stolen crude, he said that oil theft is a generic term, as details of what constitute oil theft are in multiple dimensions, including pipeline vandalism, and at a larger scale, the use of vessels to move crude oil illegally.

“Major oil companies are failing to seal disused oil well heads as the standard is globally, after leaving such wells when considered no longer commercially viable, those operating illegal refineries take advantage of the oil well heads to scoop,” he said.

However, the Naval chief subsequently named two desk officers to work in collaboration with the Committee of the House.