(Ecofin Agency) - Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC), has said that crude oil theft from its facilities dropped by over 200% last year against the percentage obtained in 2015. Likewise, oil spill from sabotage dropped by over 100% compared to 2015.

“Crude oil theft on the pipeline network resulted in a loss of about 5,660 barrels of oil per day (bpd) in 2016, which is less than the 25,000bpd in 2015. The number of sabotage-related spills declined to 45 compared with 93 in 2015.The reduction in oil theft and sabotage-related spills from the previous year can be attributed to continued improvements in air and ground surveillance and response by government security forces,” the company revealed.

According to the company, the third party interferences on pipelines and other infrastructure was the cause of 90% of oil spill incidents of over 100 kilograms from its facilities in 2016.

Africa’s second largest economy, loses billions of dollars every year to theft of crude from damaged pipelines as well as illegal refining of oil products. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), in January revealed that a total of 2,817 vandalized points were recorded between December 2015 and November 2016. These are mostly due to sabotage carried out by militants in Niger Delta.

It said the country in November last year lost ($39.7million) to crude oil, petroleum products theft and vandalism.

Anita Fatunji