Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has said it lost over 110,000 barrels of crude oil, estimated at $5 million in 2014, to oil thieves and pipelines vandals.
SPDC gave the statistics yesterday at a seminar for reporters in Warri, Delta State.
The company put its daily crude oil loss to oil theft and pipelines vandalism at 37,000 barrels.
Its General Manager, External Relations, Igo Weli, decried the negative impact that criminal activities had caused the nation’s economy, the environment of oil bearing communities and SPDC’s business in the country.
Weli said environmental pollution was caused mainly by vandals who burst oil pipes to steal its crude for illegal refinery or sales.
He said: “An average of 110,000 boe/d (barrels of crude oil per day) was deferred in 2014 due to pipelines interference and other illegal activities.
“An average of 37,000 barrels crude oil is stolen daily from SPDC JV facilities.”
Weli recalled that from 2010 to 2014, over 92 per cent of the oil spills from SPDC facilities were caused by thieves and other saboteurs.
The SPDC spokesman said this posed serious threats to the fresh water and marine environments in Niger Delta because those living in the coastal area could no longer fish or drink the water.
He said: “It affects surface resources and wide-range of surfaces. Spilled oil can harm the environment in several ways, including damages that directly impact the environment.”
Weli decried the encroachment of pipelines’ right of way by host communities.
According to him, it has become a common trend for people to build around locations visibly marked as pipelines’ right of way without recourse.
The SPDC spokesman blamed the situation on the non-compliance with the Survey Coordination Act of 1962 and a lack of awareness on the implication of living near areas marked as pipelines’ right of way.
He said: “Ccommercial activities along the right of way (of oil pipelines) are common in urban cities and it should be discouraged.”
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