Page 7 - DMEA Week 37 2022

DMEA SECURITY & POLICY DMEA

NNPCL has launched a public campaign to deter theft (Photo: NNPCL)
Thieves steal more than 95% of the oil slated for us. Nigeria will suffer for it. The revenues are
export from Bonny, he added. For every 30,000 impacted, so we can only appeal to them to rein
bpd of crude sent to terminal, he said, only in themselves. The oil theft situation is regret-
around 1,940 bpd arrive. table. It’s not going on across the whole of the
The 1.25mn-bpd Bonny terminal is not Niger Delta. There are trunk lines that are more
the only facility experiencing such challenges, impacted on. I think the Bonny trunk line ranks
Wunti added. The 400,000-bpd Forcados ter- highest. Our major challenge as a country is
minal, also operated by SPDC, is also affected our capability to respond and that is as a result
by theft and security lapses, but NNPC Ltd is of several factors – the terrain, as well as some
attempting to address outstanding issues and incapacity that we have,” he commented.
hopes to fix current problems within two weeks, He also suggested that technological
he said. In the meantime, though, the Brass ter- advances might help the country reduce oil theft
minal, a 100,000-bpd facility operated by Eni from pipelines. “I was in the Saudi Arabia infra-
(Italy), “is also facing insecurity and vandalism,” structure twice, and I know what they have. It’s
Wunti noted. a digital control system. It’s different from our
He also noted that theft and related problems own. [It’s a] digital control system. It’s like you
were not confined to the terminals. One of the have the control system of all your assets in one
links operated by SPDC “cannot be operated, place,” Wunti said. “This is beyond the digital
and this has been like this since March 3,” he was control system. It’s also a security system, and we
quoted as saying by Premium Times. are doing it and to tell you that this was built-in
Wunti described oil theft as a problem for the by our in-house software engineers because of
entire country. the security sensitivities to it because they are
“I will tell you the major thing that affects customised.” ™

PIPELINES
Iran offers to finish gas pipe to Pakistan

MIDDLE EAST MOHAMMED Ali Hosseini, the Iranian divulging the details of these discussions.
ambassador to Pakistan, said last week that Iran’s Hosseini went on to say that Iran could serve
government was prepared to complete work on as a key supplier of gas to Pakistan and asserted
a natural gas pipeline to neighbouring Pakistan that there were no sanctions in place that might
as part of a wider effort to expand ties in the hinder shipments. Both Tehran and Islama-
energy sector. bad recognise the importance of the matter, he
“To further strengthen trade co-operation commented.
with Pakistan, completion of energy projects, Co-operation in the area of gas supplies
especially the Pak-Iran gas pipeline, remains could open the door for expansion of trade in
vital,” he told the Associated Press of Pakistan other areas, he added.
(APP) in an interview. Iran and Pakistan have set the goal of boost-
The project is currently being discussed ing the value of bilateral trade to $5bn per year,
by a technical committee, he stated, without he noted.

Week 37 15•September•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7