06 September 2013, Warri – Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited, SNEPCo, has said that multinational oil companies do not collude with oil thieves to steal crude oil at loading terminals.
Regional General Manager, Communication of the company, Mr. Philip Mshelbila and Asset Manager, Swamp, West, Mr. Nesh Maichibi, at a seminar on oil theft in Warri, Delta State, described the allegation as false.
They also said that Nigeria never lost 300,000 barrels per day to oil thieves as speculated by some top government officials recently. They said it was 60,000 barrels, when illegal oil bunkering was at its peak in the operational areas of SNEPCo.
Mshelbila explained that oil multinationals could not afford to conspire with any cabal to siphon oil at loading terminals because their payment from the Joint Venture comes only from product duly loaded and exported from the loading terminal.
He said that when the company observed pressure drop due to illegal oil bunkering and stopped production, about 300,000 barrels would be shut in for everyday until it was lifted, as same does not mean that 300,000 barrels was lost daily to oil thieves.
Maichibi, on his part, shed more light on the alleged oil companies/cabal conspiracy, noting that it was not true that there was no metering process that records the crude oil pumped to the various loading terminals.
– Emma Amaize, Vanguard