Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Pathfinder, at the weekend, dismantled and excavated an over 2-kilometre illegally attached oil pipeline from well 17 within the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 18 oilfield in Elem-Krakrama Creek, Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State.
It was gathered that the wellhead has just been fixed and has not yet been commissioned for use by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
The facility has been used by some oil thieves to steal crude oil, with an illegal tapping point of 8 inches pipeline running over 2 kilometres in multiple directions into the creeks mounted on it.
Business Post had reported that the Nigerian Navy had uncovered two sabotaged wellheads at Kala-Ekweama and Elem-Krakama creeks in Asari-Toru and Degema within the OML18 field, with four suspected oil thieves arrested in the process.
Supervising the excavation of the illegal pipeline in collaboration with officials of NNPC Limited, the Commander, NNS Pathfinder, Commodore Ibrahim Suleiman, said the oil theft point was spotted by Naval’s patrol helicopter.
He expressed shock at the level of sophistication of the oil thieves, saying such large-scale theft cannot be masterminded by petty thieves or amateurs but by a syndicate of high-level experts.
The NNS Pathfinder boss further said the Navy was already tracking the people involved, saying that though no arrests have been made in relation to the theft point on OML18 wellheads, the Navy was working with sister security agencies who specialized in such investigations.
“We came here with officials of NNPC Limited operators of OML18. We came with our heavy-duty equipment to make sure we dismantled the illegal structures that were being used to siphon crude illegally. A lot of pipes have been recovered from the wellhead, and we have disconnected where they are being connected to.
“As an individual, what I have seen here is way beyond what I have seen elsewhere. The level of sophistication is beyond our imagination. The individuals involved had taken their time and done a lot of measurements, and a lot of welding was done here.”
Meanwhile, operatives of NNS Pathfinder, while on patrol with Krakrama Creek, apprehended four suspects engaged in illegal diesel bunkering.
The four suspects, who claimed to be indigenes of Southern Ijaw in Bayelsa State, upon interrogation, claimed that they were paid between N15,000 and N20,000 to transport illegally refined diesel from the creeks to the Borokiri area of Port Harcourt.
One of the suspects, identified as Morrison, who claims to be a graduate, said, “I came to hustle in the creek. I came to Krakrama to buy diesel from a man named Oboy. I was contacted by an agent. Along the line, we were arrested by the Navy patrol team.”
However, the NNS Pathfinder Commander assured that the four suspects would be handed over to the prosecuting agencies for further investigation and prosecution.
