Although there has been significant peace in the Niger Delta region, allowing for unhindered oil extraction, there are reports that crude oil theft rose by 50% to 9, 000 barrels per day in 2017 from about 6, 000 barrels per day in 2016. The Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the parent company of Shell Company in Nigeria made this known in its annual sustainability report released yesterday.
The report said the company recorded 16.7 percent increase in payments to the Federal Government for production entitlement, royalties, taxes and others in 2017 to $4.32 billion from $3.64 billion in 2016.
“Crude oil theft from Shell Petroleum and Development Company, SPDCJV’s pipeline network amounted to around 9,000 barrels of oil a day (b/d) in 2017, an increase from around 6,000 b/d in the previous year. The increase in 2017 can in part be explained by the militant-induced shutdown of the Forcados export terminal in 2016, which reduced opportunities for third-party interference.
This demonstrates that continued air and ground surveillance as well as the action by the government security forces remain necessary to prevent crude oil theft. Since 2012, SPDC has removed more than 950 illegal theft points.”
The report further said the number of its operational spills in the country increased from eight in 2016 to nine in 2017, adding that, “the volume of oil spilled in operational incidents decreased to 0.1 thousand tonnes compared to 0.3 thousand tonnes in 2016.
“The number of sabotage-related spills in 2017 increased to 62 from 48 in 2016. Theft and sabotage caused close to 90% of the number of spills of more than 100 kilograms from SPDC JV pipelines, with the balance being operational spills.
In 2017, 92 sites were remediated and certified (out of 251 identified for this work), with 32 in Ogoniland. During 2017, 84 new sites requiring remediation were identified, of which eight are in Ogoniland. In total, there are 243 oil spill sites that require remediation.”
