NIGERIA: CRUDE OIL THEFT OR INDUSTRY COLLAPSE?
Nigeria: Crude Oil Theft or Industry Collapse? BY ISSA AREMU, 2 JULY 2012 Comment OPINION The latest buzzword in the dictionary of Nigeria's oil industry abysmal/deafening failure is crude oil theft. It is now an "oily" fashion (as it were) for visible government and corporate oil chieftains to impress on us all that crude oil theft is getting out of hand. The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has particularly increased the noise level of the "worsening state of crude oil theft in Nigeria". According to Shell, Nigeria had been losing about $5 billion annually to the activities of illegal oil bunkerers operating in the oil fields located in the coastal parts of the country. An estimated 150,000 barrels of crude oil valued at $13.5 million is said to be stolen daily by the oil thieves believed to have links with some individuals in the country and an international oil cartel backed by some foreign countries. The Managing Director of SPDC and Chai...