Shell loses 12.58m barrels of crude to illegal bunkering in six months

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has lost 12.58 million barrels of crude oil between December 2011 and June this year, to illegal bunkering.

The company’s Operations Manager, Swamp 1, East, Mesh Maichibi, released the figure  at the weekend, while briefing journalists during an over-flight of the Nembe Creek Trunk line (NCTL) in Rivers and Bayelsa states.

Maichibi said that out of the number, 1.44 million barrels were deferred due to low pressure on the trunk line caused by trip-offs during the illegal bunkering activities.

He explained that when crude oil stayed under ground and did not come out for use, it was called deferment since there was a lost in production.

The operations manager said the NCTL consisted of two major trunk lines, San Batholomew and Cawthorne Channel Junction Manifold, adding that crude oil theft on the facilities had increased recently.

Maichibi noted that the Trunk lines, re-commissioned in 2010, had not experienced any significant oil theft until Dec. 24, 2011 when a major spill of 245 barrels was reported on it.

He said that the spill was at the Tora manifold and was caused by two failed six inches bunkering connections.

“The repairs required installation of coffer dams and took till January 23, at a total production deferment of 4.3 million barrels.

“Since the restart of production on January 23, there have been multiple facility trips caused by pressure drops, resulting from illegal off take.

“Once there are massive illegal bunkering activities, the pressure on the affected facility will drop and trip off,” Maichibi explained.

He said that after the commencement of production on January 23, another trip-off occurred from January 26, to January 31 due to low pressure on the line.

According to him, the situation reoccurred in February for 16 days, March for 10 days, and in April for 12 days all due to pressure trip-offs on export lines.

He pointed out that in May, the trunk line was shut down for 25 days and in June for 26 days due to leaks on failed illegal bunkering and fire at the Alakiri-Bonny line.

Maichibi said that from 2007 to 2010, the entire NCTL from Nembe 1 Manifold to Cawthorne Channel Manifold was replaced with a new 24”/30” pipeline at the cost of $960 million, saying that the replacement was necessitated by integrity issues resulting from militancy attacks, adding that the pipeline was designed for maximum gross output of 600,000 barrels per day (bpd).

In a bid to protect the line, he said, members of the Joint Task Force (JTF) were deployed to Cawthorne Channel, Awoba Manifold, San Barth and Tora Manifold, while 47-community surveillance contracts, employing 357 community workers at the cost of N1.09 billion, were also awarded.

The SPDC Right of Way Surveillance Officer, Mkpaka Jack, later conducted newsmen round the Cawthorne channel, Awoba, Bille, and Krakama fields where a lot of destroyed illegal refineries had polluted the waters.

Jack also conducted the newsmen round the Nembe axis, where evidence of illegal bunkering was seen.

He said it would take the commitment of the JTF and the communities in the creek to stop the economic sabotage.