*Government, NCTL operator move against loss of income from the Nembe Creek Trunk Line.
OpeOluwani Akintayo
10 October 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos —Indigenous Oil companies producing through the Nembe Creek Trunk Line, NCTL, have appealed to the Federal government to act decisively in curbing economic losses resulting from incessant crude oil theft on the export facility.
SweetcrudeReports gathered that the recent inauguration of the Major General Abdulmalik Jubril (retd) led defence and security committee by President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday may be the government’s response to intervene directly and save the country billions of dollars in oil revenue from this prolific field.
The 97-kilometre Nembe pipeline transports 150, 000 barrels per day of crude oil, and usually comes under attack of oil thieves who routinely vandalize the line. Despite Aiteo’s sundry efforts to secure the pipeline, unconfirmed reports claim that illegal bunkering activities persist on the infrastructure.
The pipeline starts from the Nembe Creek field in Oil Mining Lease, OML 29, to the Cawthorne Channel field on OML 18, where crude is evacuated to the Bonny oil terminal. Up to 600,000 barrels of crude oil per day, BOPD, could be evacuated at Cawthorne Channel.
The pipeline, which transports one of Nigeria’s finest crude grades, Bonny Light, was constructed by Shell, has the following oil producers as injectors; Shell, Eroton, Newcross and Aiteo which manages the asset. The NCTL was reopened on July 8, 2018, after it was shut down for a month’s repair. Industry sources attribute several tens of billions of naira as invested in the security infrastructure of the NCTL by Aiteo Group in the last 2 years. This multi-faceted and multi-channel investment in human and cutting-edge technological resources would impinge on the asset’s enhanced security going forward – putting more tax dollars in the nation’s commonwealth.
SweetcrudeReports can authoritatively reveal that the NCTL stakeholders have welcomed the increased security coverage and focus by the federal government to stamp out revenue losses stemming from bunkering. Aiteo concerned over pipeline losses
Aiteo, the operator of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line, NCTL, is currently battling losing its customers on the pipeline latest by 2020 over unbearable losses resulting from crude oil theft on the export facility.
SweetcrudeReports gathered that customers are threatening to abort all contracts through the pipeline latest by June 2020, and are already looking for alternative routes to get their products to Floating Production Storage and Offloading, FPSOs, on the Atlantic for export.
The company stands to lose millions of dollars in revenue if customers eventually back out from exporting their products through the pipeline.
The 97-kilometre Nembe pipeline transports 150, 000 barrels per day of crude oil, and usually comes under attack of oil thieves who routinely vandalise the line. Findings showed that there are as many as 24 illegal bunkering spots on the line.
The pipeline starts from the Nembe Creek field in Oil Mining Lease, OML 29, to the Cawthorne Channel field on OML 18, where crude is evacuated to the Bonny oil terminal. Up to 600,000 barrels of crude oil per day, BOPD, could be evacuated at Cawthorne Channel.
The pipeline, which transports one of Nigeria’s finest crude grades, Bonny Light, was constructed by Shell, but it does not export its crude through the pipeline anymore. Rather it sends its oil into the short line between Cawthorne Channel and the Bonny terminal.
This newspaper found that the likes of Aiteo, Eroton, and Newcross that use the pipeline lose as much as 40 percent of crude due to oil theft.
The NCTL was reopened on July 8, 2018, after it was shut down for a month’s repair.
SweetcrudeReports, on Sunday, sent an email and text message to the spokesman of the company, Odianosen Mosade, but received no response. A call was placed to him on Monday after which he promised to get back with a response. He, however, refused to do so until the time of publication.
The pipeline is owned by Aiteo Group, which purchased it as part of the related facilities of the prolific oil bloc OML 29 from Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC. By March 2015, SPDC completed the assignment of its interest in OML 29 and the Nembe Creek Trunk Line to Aiteo Eastern E&P Company Limited, a subsidiary of Aiteo Group.
The other joint venture partners, Total E&P Nigeria Limited and Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited, also assigned their interests of 10% and 5% respectively in the lease, ultimately giving Aiteo Eastern E&P Company Limited a 45% interest in OML 29 and the Nembe Creek Trunk Line.
