CEM REPORT | In its fight against crude oil theft and vandalism, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) has launched a mobile application and other models to combat the menace.
The Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Mele Kyari, introduced the “Crude Theft Monitoring Applications” during the renewal of the Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) between the NNPC and its partners in the Oil Mining Leases (OML) in Abuja.
He said one of the two newly developed applications had options for reporting incidences, with prompt follow-up and responses and the other had options for crude sales documents validation, adding that both applications can be accessed on a mobile phone through the portal with the address ‘www.stopcrudetheft.com’
“There are still ongoing activities of oil thieves and vandals on our pipelines and assets.
“I commend the Armed forces; in the last three months, they have done substantive work and had destroyed some illegal refineries.”
Kyari explained that the platforms were created to provide opportunities to members of the communities and other Nigerians to report incidences of theft and be rewarded.
He also noted that international refineries had the obligation to ensure they bought Nigerian crude from credible sources which could be validated to further close that gap of where the stolen crude could be taken to.
He added that they would be held responsible as part of the culprits involved in the theft chain if they refused to do that.
He said that every product that left the country would have a unique registration number by the NNPC and validated by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), while a platform would be created where end-users, particularly refiners and traders can validate the product.
“We cannot do this without international collaboration. They must ensure that they validate this because we have a unique number.”
The GCEO stated that NNPC Ltd. would put an end to the oil theft menace as it now had a coordinated process and a line of sight around all marine movements in the country.
Reacting to the development, the Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), and chairman, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor while commending the development further noted his regret that crude oil theft led to the shutdown of the trans-Niger Delta Pipeline (TNP) and contributed to the country’s inability to meet OPEC production quota.
