NNPC to monitor oil vessels with drones

The Group Managing Director (GMD), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has said that the Corporation is working towards the deployment of drones across the nation’s territorial waters to monitor the inwards and outwards movement of oil bearing vessels. He disclosed this in a presentation at the special conference on Security in the […]

The Group Managing Director (GMD), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has said that the Corporation is working towards the deployment of drones across the nation’s territorial waters to monitor the inwards and outwards movement of oil bearing vessels.
He disclosed this in a presentation at the special conference on Security in the Gulf of Guinea organized by the Gusau Institute, a statement from the Corporation said.
 Dr. Kachikwu also said NNPC was working on a range of far-reaching options designed to end the ugly episodes of crude and petroleum products theft within the next eight months.
Lamenting the impact of oil theft on the smooth operations of the nation’s refineries, the GMD warned that if left unchecked, the menace could invariably make it impossible for the NNPC to operate the refineries.
“Most of our product pipelines are ruptured and attacked frequently. For instance between June 2014 and June 2015, we recorded about 3, 500 to 4,000 attempts at the various products pipelines across the country. In addition to that, the pipelines that are supposed to convey crude to the refineries are perpetually hacked,’’ he added.
Dr. Kachikwu noted that the resort to the use of marine vessels to convey crude to the refineries is coming at heavy cost. He explained that beyond the loss of crude and products, the incidents of oil theft have also claimed a huge number of human lives saying in the last three years a total of 350 persons including NNPC staff, police officers and community members have been killed as a result of activities of oil thieves.