The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has introduced an online portal to help address ongoing crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism across the country.
Launched in Abuja during the signing of renewed Production Sharing Contract agreements between the national oil company and partners for Oil Mining Leases, the Crude Theft Monitoring Applications serve to detect illegal activities across the oil industry. The application was created with direct input from government regulatory bodies, security agencies and host communities.
To access the NNPC portal, citizens can visit stopcrudetheft.com, where they will be able to select various options for reporting incidences, following up on submissions as well as validating crude sale documents.
Crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism represent some of the biggest challenges faced by the NNPC, with NNPC Group CEO, Mele Kyari, explaining that, “Vandals’ actions on pipelines became a difficult thing to deal with, but [the NNPC] engaged partners to ensure that it responded to the situation. There are still ongoing activities of oil thieves and vandals on our pipelines and assets, very visible in the form of illegal refineries that are continuously put up in some locations and insertions into our pipeline network.”
In addition to reporting and restricting on-the-ground activities, Kyari urged international refineries and companies to report suspicious sales, emphasizing that only crude from credible sources should be bought. “We cannot do this without international collaboration. It is impossible for any refinery to take crude they do not know the source. Refineries are designed to process certain specific grade of crude,” stated Kyari, adding that, “It is their duty to ensure that they validate this.”
