Instead of going to European and other foreign countries to seek for help on how to tackle crude oil theft, the Goodluck Jonathan administration should move against “principalities and powers in high places,” who are the sponsors of crude oil theft, the Managing Director, Shell Petroleum Development Company, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu, said in Abuja on Wednesday.

Sunmonu, who spoke at the ongoing Nigeria Oil and Gas 2013 Exhibition and Conference, compared the stolen crude deal to the drug business with couriers, small dealers and sponsors.

He said though it was commendable for the government to take the initiative of discussing with foreign countries suspected to hold the proceeds from the sale of stolen crude oil, the problem could easily be solved if the sponsors were found out and dealt with.

Sunmonu said like the drug business all over the world, criminals who sabotaged crude oil pipelines in the Niger Delta were only working for bigger entities that should be found out and dealt with.

“The truth is that the small criminals in the creeks of Niger Delta bursting pipelines and stealing crude oil are not working for themselves. Like the drug cartels around the world, they are being sponsored by big principalities and powers in high places, which the government should go against if the fight against crude oil theft is to be won,” he said.

The Shell boss said efforts should be made by all stakeholders to tackle the problem of poverty among the people, adding that if this was taken care of, the problem would have been half solved, as the perpetrators would not have any reason to allow themselves to be used to steal the country’s commonwealth.

Sunmonu said Shell and other International Oil Companies operating in Nigeria have had their pipelines sabotaged by crude oil thieves on several occasions.

The oil companies have privately and publicly blamed the government for its failure to provide security for the pipelines despite the fact that they pay all the charges and taxes the government asks of them.

He also said the setback in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill was one of the several difficulties hindering Shell’s planned investment of about $30bn in two offshore deepwater projects in the country.

The Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Abiye Membere, similarly said the country’s total crude loss to bunkering activities had dropped from 150,000 barrels per day to 80,000bpd towards the end of 2012.

Membere said the government’s security measures to curtail the menace of oil theft in the country had so far yielded results and that the volume of crude stolen from the country had now dropped from 150,000bpd to 80,000bpd as of the end of last year.

http://www.punchng.com/news/powerful-nigerians-behind-oil-theft-shell/

God save Nigeria.

The right strategy is to handle it from all fronts: catch and expose the kingpins; degrade the ability of the so-calld footsoldiers to break pipelines and steal crude; improve the conditions of people surrounding the pipelines; and, deal with the continue Excess Market abroad for these stolen crude, etc. You treat the Demand and Supply sides together if you intend to really deal with d problem in a SUBSTAINABLE manner..... Already, work at home by Security Agencies, as startd by the article, has reducd Crude theft from 150,000bpd to 80,000bpd; what is needed to furda drive it downwards and hence deal with it in a Substainable way, is to block the foreign market for the stolen crude as work intensifies at home...

taharqa: The right strategy is to handle it from all fronts: catch and expose the kingpins; degrade the ability of the so-calld footsoldiers to break pipelines and steal crude; improve the conditions of people surrounding the pipelines; and, deal with the continue Excess Market abroad for these stolen crude, etc. You treat the Demand and Supply sides together if you intend to really deal with d problem in a SUBSTAINABLE manner..... Already, work at home by Security Agencies, as startd by the article, has reducd Crude theft from 150,000bpd to 80,000bpd; what is needed to furda drive it downwards and hence deal with it in a Substainable way, is to block the foreign market for the stolen crude as work intensifies at home...

which of the strategies above is GEJ applying?

let them school the reta.rded fellow. you need to tackle your friends that runs the bunkering rings.than the crying around to the international community for help.of which it beneficial to them for the bunkering to continue.so they not ready to listen to your cry Mr c-in-c.

Thank you for telling jona what we all know. Is it not his brothers dokubo , tompolo and co, who have become billionaires from oil theft?

Exactly! That was the reason why I almost ran mad when I watched the Amanpour inteview when Jonathan tried to shift the blame of crude oil theft, that the oil stolen is 'being refined abroad!'. I was like WTF!! How could som1 be this daft?? Would those countries get any stolen crude to refine if you put in place effective measures to curb the stealing?? Then he went ahead to call on the international community for help!! At that point, I raised my hands up in resignation.

Nigeria is her own enemy, even without saying it, the president and the top govt. Officials know about this act of oil bunkering and thieves behind it, yet they won't say anything because they benefit from it as well... There were hypes about the degrees of punishments that anybody found wanting will face in the course of the fuel subsidy saga, but up till now, even the few ones that were fished out are still walking free & are still into the acts. For the mean time, Nigeria will continue to experience it (oil theft) until she's ready to turn a blind eye and deaf ears to the so-called looters and thieves in high places by punishing them squarely.