NIGERIA/USA: Shell says it may be forced to completely shut down its Nembe Creek oil pipeline in Nigeria due to "unprecedented" amount of oil theft

Record ID: 235994

  • Title: NIGERIA/USA: Shell says it may be forced to completely shut down its Nembe Creek oil pipeline in Nigeria due to "unprecedented" amount of oil theft
  • Date: 6th March 2013
  • Summary: BAYELSA, NIGERIA (MARCH 6, 2013) (REUTERS) SIGN-POST READING: "WARNING SPDC HIGH PRESSURE PIPELINE, DO NOT TRESPASS" VARIOUS OF SHELL OIL WELL HEAD FACILITY SPILLING OIL WASHINGTON D.C., USA (MARCH 5, 2013) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHELL NIGERIA MANAGING DIRECTOR, MUTIU SUNMONU, SAYING: "Of recent Shell operations alone, we were losing about 60,000 bpd, that was just Shell, and I'm sure a few other operators are losing as well, so if you put everything together, I would be surprised if it is less than 100,000 barrels per day. That's a lot of oil." BAYELSA, NIGERIA (MARCH 6, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF OIL WELL HEAD WASHINGTON D.C., USA (MARCH 5, 2013) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHELL NIGERIA MANAGING DIRECTOR, MUTIU SUNMONU, SAYING: "For us, as Shell, the real concern is the environment, not the bottom line. Of course, I would like to keep my oil in the pipeline, and make a decent return from it, but the situation that we are faced with now, we are putting the environment right at the front." BAYELSA, NIGERIA (MARCH 5, 2013) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF JOINT TASK FORCE HEADQUARTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIEUTENANT COLONEL ONYEMA NWACHUKWU, SPOKESMAN, JOINT TASK FORCE IN THE NIGER DELTA, SAYING: "That outcry is an outrageous outcry by SPDC and I'm short of saying that I'm disappointed in that outcry because severally we were called on and our troops have discovered breaches on SPDC pipelines particularly areas like Dasaba (local community) and Mekakiri (local community) and for over three months SPDC has not responded to these, they have not gone to clamp those breaches and of course what do you expect? Definitely, there would be a reduction in the pressure of the pipes and the pressure shutdown the output so they are going to shutdown not because JTF is not doing its job but because they have not been responsible enough to handle those breaches that we discovered and we have called their attention to it." EKIYOR KORAND, LECTURER IN THE DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY AT THE NIGER DELTA UNIVERSITY, ENTERS ROOM CLOSE-UP OF BOOK (SOUNDBITE) (English) EKIYOR KORAND, LECTURER, DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY, NIGER DELTA UNIVERSITY, SAYING: "Do you know that there are leaders in Nigeria who are into oil theft and are giving protection by the same Nigerian state these things are happening, all the leaders in the high places in Nigeria are involved in this thing. Shell came out with the same statement once that top government officials are the ones in oil bunkering (oil theft) and that is true. The military is not telling us the truth, Shell is not telling the truth, they are all conspirators. We don't know what is going on, but what we know is that there is a high level of oil theft going on." MORE OF KORAND READING BOOK (SOUNDBITE) (English) EKIYOR KORAND, LECTURER, DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY, NIGER DELTA UNIVERSITY, SAYING: "What you are seeing now is only temporary and they are only playing to the gallery because Shell have come under a lot of international condemnations all over the world, so what they are trying to do now is to stand, but they are co-conspirators. All of them are telling lies, they are bunch of lies and thieves and the Nigerian people must rise up and flush them away; that is the permanent solution, every other thing is like scratching the surface." BAYELSA, NIGERIA (MARCH 6, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MANIFOLD CONNECTED TO PIPELINES
  • Embargoed: 21st March 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime,Business,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVA8DF2C2T2T1HN31UOARJQE2Z4Z
  • Story Text: Shell may be forced to completely shut down its 150,000 barrel per day Nembe Creek oil pipeline in Nigeria due to an "unprecedented" amount of oil theft, the company's local unit said on Tuesday (March 5).
    The Nembe trunkline is one of the most important production routes for Africa's top crude oil exporter, feeding the benchmark Bonny Light export terminal. The pipeline was replaced in 2010 at a cost of 1.1 billion U.S. dollars, Shell says.
    "Of recent Shell operations alone, we were losing about 60,000 bpd, that was just Shell, and I'm sure a few other operators are losing as well, so if you put everything together, I would be surprised if it is less than 100,000 barrels per day. That's a lot of oil," said Mutiu Sunmonu, Shell Nigeria managing director during an interview on Tuesday.
    Criminal gangs frequently tap into exposed pipelines in the winding creeks and waterways in the Niger Delta. Some of the crude is refined locally but the majority is transferred onto larger ships offshore and sold internationally.
    Oil theft also has a devastating environmental impact, destroying fishing communities and poisoning water used for drinking and bathing in parts of the Niger Delta.
    Flowstations on the pipeline were shut down three times between Feb. 22 and Feb. 25 due to thefts, with each incident deferring 150,000 bpd of production, Shell said in a statement.
    Sunmonu said Shell was more concerned about the impact of the theft in the environment.
    "For us, as Shell, the real concern is the environment, not the bottom line. Of course, I would like to keep my oil in the pipeline, and make a decent return from it, but the situation that we are faced with now, we are putting the environment right at the front," Sunmonu told Reuters.
    But a spokesman for Nigerian security forces in the oil-producing Niger Delta said they were having successes against oil thieves. He denied that there was any surge in theft along the Nembe line, accusing Shell of failing to seal leaks.
    "That outcry is an outrageous outcry by SPDC (Shell Petroleum Development Corporation) and I'm short of saying that I'm disappointed in that outcry because severally we were called on and our troops have discovered breaches on SPDC pipelines particularly areas like Dasaba (local community) and Mekakiri (local community) and for over three months SPDC has not responded to these, they have not gone to clamp those breaches and of course what do you expect? Definitely, there would be a reduction in the pressure of the pipes and the pressure shutdown the output so they are going to shutdown not because JTF (joint task force) is not doing its job but because they have not been responsible enough to handle those breaches that we discovered and we have called their attention to it," said Lieutenant Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu, a spokesman for Nigerian forces in the Niger Delta.
    Nwachukwu said a crackdown on oil theft meant it was on the decrease, adding nearly 2,000 suspects had been arrested since it was launched last year and more than twice as many illegal refineries destroyed.
    More than 100 oil barges had also been destroyed, he said.
    Nigerian Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke said last month the thefts were the work of international crime syndicates and she had requested help from Britain to tackle the problem.
    Security experts say they believe Nigerian officials must be complicit in the business, considering the scale of theft, which some oil companies have estimated at around 150,000 bpd across the whole of the industry.
    Some academics in Nigeria echo this analysis.
    "Do you know that there are leaders in Nigeria who are into oil theft and are giving protection by the same Nigerian state these things are happening, all the leaders in the high places in Nigeria are involved in this thing. Shell came out with the same statement once that top government officials are the ones in oil bunkering (oil theft) and that is true. The military is not telling us the truth, Shell is not telling the truth, they are all conspirators. We don't know what is going on, but what we know is that there is a high level of oil theft going on," said Ekiyor Korand, a lecturer at Niger Delta University.
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