A vessel conveying 800,000 litres of suspected stolen crude oil has been intercepted by a private security contractor engaged by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPC Ltd).
This is according to a statement signed by Mr. Garba Muhammad, Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPCL., released on Monday Abuja.
The vessel and its crew members were apprehended on July 7, by operatives of Messrs. Tantita Security Services at an offshore location heading to Cameroon.
Muhammad explained that the Vessel, MT TURA II, IMO number: 6620462, was owned by a Nigerian company, HOLAB MARITIME SERVICES LIMITED with Registration Number RC813311.
According to him, preliminary investigations revealed that the crude oil cargo on-board was illegally sourced from a well jacket offshore in Ondo State, Nigeria.
“There was no valid documentation for the Vessel or the Crude Oil Cargo on board at the time of the arrest.
“Further investigation into the activities of the vessel at the NNPC Ltd. Command and Control Centre also revealed that the Vessel has been operating in stealth mode for the last 12 years.
`The last reported location of the Vessel was Tin Can Port in July 2011,’’ he said.
It was gathered that the operatives of the pipeline surveillance firm succeeded in effecting the vessel’s arrest after a weeklong monitoring of its movements.
The vessel was said to have once been arrested with its contents delivered to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) while it was also handed over to the security agencies from where it allegedly escaped miraculously.
This, he said, was to destroy the Vessel to serve as a strong warning and deterrent to all those participating in such illegal activities.
According to him, destroying vessels involved in transporting stolen crude oil is of paramount importance as a strong deterrent.
“The illegal trade of stolen crude oil not only inflicts significant economic losses on Nigeria and legitimate stakeholders in the oil industry, but also perpetuates a cycle of corruption, environmental devastation, and social instability.
“NNPC Ltd. assures Nigerians that we will sustain the momentum in the war against crude oil theft until it is brought to a halt,’’ he said.
Federal Government Orders Destruction of Vessel
According to Tantita’s Executive Director, Technical and Operations, Captain Warredi Enisuoh, the ship had been caught 10 years ago in same act, but managed to get away, changing its name from Ali Riza Bey to Tura II.
Enisuoh said they had been monitoring activities of the vessel for a while, noting it was intercepted when it came in the early hours to steal crude. He said the vessel, which is over 50 years old, had already loaded about 150,000 tonnes of crude oil when it was impounded.
Enisuoh disclosed that the ship usually takes stolen crude to Ghana, Cameroun and Togo.
The Commander of Operation Delta Safe, Rear Admiral Olusegun Ferreira, disclosed that the vessel had 12 crewmembers, who, he said, were being investigated.
Ferreira said the vessel was intercepted through intelligence from stakeholders. He disclosed that they have secured approval from the Federal Government to destroy the vessel after collecting samples of its content and analysed them.
A team from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), led by Zakariya Buduwara, representing Chief Upstream Investment Officer, Bala Wunti, was on ground, yesterday, to inspect the impounded vessel.
The captain, who identified himself as Odubiyi Samson, told journalists that the vessel was hired by a group, but didn’t know the commodity they were conveying was stolen crude oil.
