Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Domestic oil firm Aiteo has raised alarm over the continued attack on its pipelines by crude oil thieves in the Niger Delta region.
Aiteo is the operator of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) which has a 117km pipeline, stretching from Bayelsa state to Bonny in Rivers State, with a 600,000 barrels per day design capacity.
Managing Director Mr Victor Okorokwo, who disclosed this in Yenagoa during a presentation at the gathering of key players in the oil and gas industry, expressed concern that the activities of the crude oil thieves had forced the company to shut down cumulatively for 2 months, losing about 4 million barrels of crude oil.
According to him, it is more worrisome that some of the suspects arrested and handed over to law enforcement agencies are not convicted.
“One of the biggest challenges we face in our operations is the security of our pipelines and oil facilities. Our pipelines and flowlines are constantly vandalised by unscrupulous elements tagged ‘crude oil thieves’, attempting to cause economic sabotage to our company and the people of this great country. Despite our efforts in raising NCTL uptime from 60% to over 80% since acquisition, we have recorded more shutdown days in operations due to third party infractions for over 2 months this year compared to previous years. This has resulted in loss of revenue and deferments estimated at about 4 million barrels so far this year. Also worrying is the amount of crude loss recorded even when the pipeline is operational, usually in the range of 25 to 35%. More worrying is that even when the perpetrators of these acts are caught and handed over to security agencies, we are yet to witness any convictions. Remember, Aiteo operates the NCTL which also serves 4 other Oil companies (Eroton, Newcross, Belema Oil and Shell) injecting into the pipeline, hence, when there are infractions on the line, these companies are also forced to shut-down; resulting in economic losses for these companies also and the Federal Government by and large,” Okorokwo explained.
Despite all these challenges, Okorokwo, who described Aiteo as the best example of what local content can achieve, said the company has kept its commitment to the NCDMB, paying up to N1.52 billion in NCDMB fees and N1.5 billion as NDDC levies, while spending over N3.6 billion in community support programmes and projects.