The arrest of a supertanker with a capacity for three million barrels of oil, about three times the 1 million barrels per day (bpd) currently being produced by Nigeria, clearly validates the widely-held suspicion that international collaborators are involved in siphoning the country’s oil wealth in connivance with a syndicate of thieves and high-level government officials.
Recall that earlier in the week, there was a report on the arrest of the supertanker, MV HEROIC IDUN, by Equatorial Guinea forces over alleged crude oil theft in Nigeria. Industry observers pointed out that the capacity of the tanker points to the scale and scope of the theft of the precious resource commodity going on, thereby denying the country the much-needed foreign exchange.
The Nigerian Navy, which confirmed the arrest of the tanker after it fled from Nigeria’s AKPO oilfield when its activities were uncovered by its operatives, stated that the ship in question had been seized by the Central African country after the 300,000 metric tonnes facility escaped from its forces.
The Navy welcomed with much satisfaction the news of the arrest. A statement by its spokesperson, Commodore Olukayode Ayo-Vaughan, explained that an investigation through radio communication with the vessel revealed that the tanker did not have the appropriate documentation for the intended purpose.
The Nigerian economy has recently been badly hit by the inability of the government to generate dollar revenue from its main source, which is the export of crude oil. While Nigeria’s production in the last few months hovered between 1 million bpd and 1.1 million bpd, its Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota this August is 1.826 million, a deficit of roughly 700,000 to 800,000 bpd.
At the unveiling of new Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) with its partners last week, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd., Mele Kyari, hinted that while local oil theft had been contained to some extent, there were some international cartels involved in the stealing of Nigeria’s oil.
Kyari said Nigeria was setting in motion a firm mechanism to mark its crude export so that buyers could easily identify stolen crude. He added that henceforth any foreign collaborators would be dealt with in accordance with international laws.
