The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has promised to deploy drones across the nation’s territorial waters to monitor the inwards and outwards movement of oil vessels as a way of tackling the issue of crude oil theft in the country.
In a statement by the NNPC in Abuja, Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, lamented the rising incidence of crude oil theft in the country and how it affects the country’s refineries. He stated that the NNPC is working on several options designed to end the issue of crude and petroleum products theft within the next eight months.
“We are launching an armada of approaches which will include incorporation of drones to check movements of vessels within our territorial waters; We are looking at the current logistical nightmares of changing staffing at the loading bay of crude oil export terminals virtually every 90 days,” Kachikwu said at a special conference on Security in the Gulf of Guinea organized by the Gusau Institute.
“We are trying to equip the navy sufficiently though they are very well equipped in terms of skill set but not in terms of arsenal for patrols within the maritime area.”
The NNPC GMD warned that if left unchecked, vandalism could invariably make it impossible for the NNPC to operate the refineries.
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