President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed regret over the needless loss of lives and property as a result of last Friday’s pipeline explosion in Osisioma Ngwa community of Abia State, and sympathizes with those who lost loved ones
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu in Abuja, Saturday, noted that preliminary reports by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) showed that the incident was not an accidental explosion, but a result of vandals who pilloried the pipelines to scoop the products.
According to his statement, “Despite repeated warnings, these unscrupulous people have vandalised that particular pipeline 684 times in the last six months alone. Each time the pipeline is repaired, they resume their activities, even collaborating with security agents, who are reported to have set up toll gates collecting fees from the vandals.
“A fight broke out as a heist was going on and there was shooting, which is believed to have ignited Friday morning’s explosion, during which three security personnel also lost their lives. “President Buhari urges communities and state governments that host oil pipelines to be more vigilant and rise to combat the challenge posed by pipeline vandalism. “The Enugu depot of the NNPC has been repaired and ready to function, but remains idle today because of the vandals.” President appealed to host communities to collaborate with the NNPC to tame oil pipeline vandalism in their areas.
Tag: Vandalism
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Buhari warns against pipeline vandalism, commiserates with Abia explosion victims
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Niger Delta: Vandalism worries SPDC
The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), has urged youths in the oil producing Niger Delta region to embrace peace and end vandalisation of oil installations in the area.
Mr Igo Weli, General Manager, External Relations, SPDC, made the appeal on Thursday in Port Harcourt, during the “Youths Summit for Land East Hub Host Communities’’ programme organised by company.
Weli, who was represented by Mr Evans Krukubo, SPDC’s Manager of Community Interface, said that the company was worried by activities of vandals on its facilities.
The general manager said the resultant impacts of such activities on the environment and livelihood of the people was enormous.
He said that the SPDC was committed to providing employment, education and enterprise development to youths Abia, Imo and Rivers, the states under its youth empowerment drive.
He said: “this concern is part of reasons we invited speakers to educate and share and their experiences with the aim of having the youths becoming agents of change.
“We are also seeking supports and ideas from the youths with the aim to proffer solutions to the challenges we encounter in our operations.
“We are not focusing on the entire youths in the Niger Delta, but only targeting and connecting with those in our land assets in the East.
“We are taking this engagement with the youths, segment-by-segment, on areas where we operate facilities within Abia, Imo and Rivers states.”
He said that 70 youth leaders drawn from the three states were participating in the programme and expected to take the message to their various communities.
Also, Sam Ezugworie, SPDC’s Asset Manager, Land East Hub, said that the company had adopted “Enhanced Surveillance Strategy’’ to tackle vandalism of its facilities.
He spoke through Boniface Nongo, an official of the company, and said that the strategy in collaboration with the host communities had reduced attacks on its pipelines.
“We are working directly with the community contractors under three cluster development boards in Ukwa West (Abia), Agbada (Imo) and Ikwerre (Rivers) to survey our facilities.
“This strategy has enabled us to generate employment for about 900 people who work day and night to protect our wells and flow lines.
“The strategy has allowed us to safeguard over 60,000 barrels of oil per day production for the past eight months and with near zero incidences recorded since it was implemented.
“We believe that bad things can never happen in a house except there is an insider. So, we have given them responsibility to look over our assets,” he said.
He added that the company would on July 1 introduce the strategy to other clusters in its land east hub and the central hub assets in the Niger Delta.
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We lost over 70% production capacity to vandalism in 2016 – NNPC
The Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that the shortfall in gas supply for power generation is caused by militancy activities in the Niger Delta.
The NNPC, in a statement in Abuja on Sunday by Mr Ndu Ughamadu, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, said the shortfall affected both NPDC and Joint Venture (JV) partners.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that JV partnership is an arrangement that Nigeria has with international oil companies to ensure steady supply of petroleum products into the country.
In a presentation to the House Committee on Local Content, NPDC Managing Director, Mr Yusuf Matashi, said ”the pulverization of the Forcados trunk line by militants in 2016 gravely impacted gas production by NPDC and its JV partners.
”The attack, which primarily led to a loss of about 70 per cent of NPDC’s crude oil production capability, also had an effect on gas production.
”Unfortunately gas production in the region we operate is not non-associated gas but associated with the crude oil we produce so by the time we shut in the oil well, we also shut in most of the gas.
”That is why we now see the level of gas supply shortage for power generation,’’ Matashi said.
He said other operators might have other reasons for the shortfall in gas supply in their domain.
According to him the damage of the Forcados export terminal supply line is the biggest obstacle to the production of gas by the NPDC and its JV Partners.
Matashi, however, said the Company would increase its gas production by as much as 50 per cent whenever the Forcados line was back on stream.
Describing the impact of the attack as immeasurable, Matashi said within the last one year, the company had struggled to mitigate the effects on its production.
On the NPDC local content compliance level, Matashi noted that as an indigenous exploration and production company, the NPDC was in sync with the letters and spirit of the provisions of the Nigerian Content law in the oil and gas industry.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Local Content, Rep. Emmanuel Ekon, said members of the Committee would in due course embark on an oversight visit to NPDC facilities.
He said this would enable them have proper appraisal of the company’s compliance level with the extant law on local content.
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, had said but for some ”minor incidents” the nation would be closer to producing 2.1 or 2.2 million barrels per day and had set a zero militancy target for 2017.
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Nigeria loses $80bn annually to vandalism in Niger Delta – Kachikwu
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr Ibe Kachikwu, has said Nigeria loses over $80bn annually due to vandalism of oil facilities in the Niger Delta.
Kachikwu made this known in Friday in Yenagoa at the resumed dialogue with Niger Delta stakeholders as part of the visit of Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to Bayelsa.
He said that no fewer than 10,000 sabotage incidents were recorded annually at oilfields across the region.
He regretted that within the last decade, estimated 30 billion dollars revenue accrued to the Niger Delta area by way of derivation, but that the region had continued to wallow in abject poverty.
Kachikwu urged people of the area to contribute ideas toward the resolution of crises in the zone “and add value as well as derive some gain from the natural endowments of the region’’.
He said that the challenges of the region could be turned into opportunities when peace was achieved, and called on Niger Delta people to give peace a chance for the growth of the region.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo is currently on a working visit to the Niger Delta in continuation of peace talks with aggrieved militants in the region.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that also on the train for the visit with the Acting President is Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Usain Usain, and Minister of State for Agriculture, Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri.