OpeOluwani Akintayo
25 July 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Nigeria has shut down Agbada flow station last month, June, Sweetcrude Reports has learnt.
According to information gathered by this Newspaper, the 60,000 barrels per day flow station was shut down due to theft.
Aside pipeline vandalism, another challenge the Nigerian government still battles is oil theft.
Oil field operators have tried different means to solve it. Operators, such as Shell, are using surveillance helicopters, drones, and wellhead cages, however, Sweetcrude Report learnt that nothing seems to be stopping the thieves from operating.
Aside oil militants in the Niger Delta, locals in the oil producing areas have been blamed for tampering with pipelines and stealing crude oil for local refining, cutting down Nigeria’s production.
Nigeria’s production hit 1.733 million bpd last month.
The country targets 1.8 million bpd before joining the Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC’s) cap deal.
Reported estimates have it that almost a third of the crude that flows through pipelines in the Delta, ends up in the hands of thieves.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government is looking towards destroying illegal refineries in the Niger Delta and legalising them into a modular refinery.
In 2016, the army said it destroyed 181 illegal refineries and confiscated oil and diesel worth about US41.3 billion.