Oil major Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary has hinted that it will investigate reports that an illegal oil tap ran for nine years on a pipeline it operates.
A spokesperson of the multinational oil company,saying:“We are also conducting an investigation to establish where the theft lines end and whether there have been any breaches of the unmanned platform’s security barriers (locks etc.) or any unauthorised use of the equipment on it”
The company said it had detected illegal connections as part of regular surveillance and would launch a joint investigation with regulators to “establish the nature and condition” of the lines before removing them.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company, Limited, NNPCL, had claimed that the theft point extended from the Trans Escravos pipeline and that the Afremo platform, operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), was the suspected exit point of the stolen crude.
NNPC identified the theft line discovery as evidence that Nigeria’s coordinated interventions, including contracts with companies owned by former militants, to crack down on theft were paying off.
