Shell lost 13.5m barrels of crude oil to theft in 2014

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) said it lost 13.5 million barrels of crude oil from its joint venture to theft in 2014 while another 40.2 million barrels were lost due to shut in production.

The total amount of crude oil lost to both theft and shut in production came up to about 53.5 million barrels in 2014 which amounted to about $2.4 billion by current price in the international market.

Afohron Sekobe, head of Right of Way Management, made the disclosure in Yenagoa on Monday at a seminar for practising journalists titled, ‘Effects of Pipeline Vandalism, Crude Oil Theft and Encroachment Issues’.

Throwing more light on the enormity of pipeline vandalism, Sekobe stated that within the period, 92 percent of all oil spills were as a result of sabotage by crude oil thieves.

He explained that due to the continued acts of pipeline vandalism, SPDC has replaced a total of 900 kilometers of pipelines in the Niger Delta region and also 64 percent of identified spill sites were remediated and certified in 2014.

On the issue of encroachment on right of way, Sekobe lamented that in spite of efforts by the oil multinational to discourage it, the pressure of growing populace was forcing many people to settle on right of way.

According to him, some of those areas have become busy with commercial activities despite warning signs and even in some cases erection of perimeter fences.

Also speaking, the manager, Government and Community Relations in Bayelsa State, Alaye Dokubo, called for synergy among all stakeholder groups including the media to help reduce incidences of pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft and encroachment on right of way.

Precious Okolobo, manager, Media Relations, said SPDC will continue to operate under high safety standards while urging other stakeholders to be up and doing.

In his remarks, the state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Tarinyo Akono, suggested that SPDC should engage host communities more and confront them with the number of those jailed for crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism to serve as deterrent.