Nigeria lost a substantial $32 million due to its inability to export about 450,000 barrels of crude oil, bpd, for three days, owing to razing of Nembe Creek pipeline.
The export disruption took place from April 21 to 23 due to destruction of the facility, culminating in the declaration of force majure.
Meanwhile, Aiteo has tackled the fire incident, thus paving way for inspection and rehabilitation of the facility.
This is even as Neconde Energy Limited has invented an Alternative Evacuation Technology, AET, to tackle oil theft and pipeline vandalism in Nigeria.
In a statement Tuesday, Aiteo stated: “Aiteo confirms that the fire reported within its Right Of Way (ROW) of the NCTL on 21 April 2019 has been completely put out. The Security team conducted further inspections at various times yesterday and confirms this position.
“In line with regulatory requirements, a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) comprising security and regulatory agencies as well as community representatives and Aiteo personnel will be constituted and deployed to the site to attend to the necessary incident formalities. This team is expected at the incident site imminently.
“The Joint Task Force on Security team has confirmed that sabotage of the pipeline at Awoba was responsible; has identified some culprits and is set to act as is necessary.
“Aiteo is working on further site preparation and mobilisation of specialised equipment to the swamps for further remedial action to facilitate a quick return to full functionality. Further information will be made available as soon as these occur.”
Head, Corporate Communications of the company, Mr Ndiana Matthew, had earlier stated: “We are constrained to shut in injection as well as other related operations into the NCTL. In accordance with standard procedure, we requested the other injectors to do same. The NCTL has, hitherto, enjoyed smooth operations preceding this incident.
“In the meantime, the relevant investigations are continuing while further information about the remote and direct causes of the fire will be communicated as soon as these became available. We ask our stakeholders to await further, detailed briefing in due course”.
Shell’s experience
In its latest ‘briefing notes’, Shell stated: “Security in parts of the Niger Delta remains a major concern with persisting incidents of criminality, kidnapping and vandalism as well as onshore and offshore piracy. Although there has been no damage to key oil and gas infrastructure caused by militant activity since November 2016, the security situation remains volatile in this region of the country.
“Facilities operated by both indigenous and international oil and gas companies continue to be vandalised by attacks and other illegal activities such as crude oil theft. This led to lower oil and gas production in 2016 particularly for indigenous producers and incidents of environmental contamination. The consequences also included a loss of revenue for the Federal Government of Nigeria and disruptions to gas supply to power electricity for industry, businesses and public-sector services.”
Alternative technology
However, Neconde Energy Limited has emerged with the Alternative Evacuation Technology, AET, in order to tackle oil theft and pipeline vandalism in Nigeria.
In an interview with Vanguard, Mr. Ifeanyi Ezuka, the Chief Technical Officer, Neconde Energy Limited, said: “The new technology comes with a lot of benefits. The usual losses or leakages associated with pipeline issues are eliminated, meaning that we have control of the complete value chain to deliver specific volumes from the well-head to the terminal. Also, bankers now take us serious than before because they know and appreciate the certainty of our operations. There is also a significant drop in redundancy.”
“We have been at full deployment since June, July last year. It has been great, everyone is happy because production has been stable. From all indications, we will be able to pay back borrowed funds. It can only get better.”
