Nigeria increases pipeline security

The Nigerian military has increased surveillance of the country’s oil pipelines after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) estimated that that the country has lost over N175 billion due to some 15 685 breaks in its 5000 km fuel pipeline network over the last decade.

Nigeria’s pipelines transport petroleum products to 21 depots in different parts of the country. According to the NNPC, the combined working capacity of all the depots nationwide could provide for up to 32 days for petrol, 65 days for kerosene and 42 days for diesel. However, widespread vandalism has rendered many of the depots useless and has prevented others from functioning at full capacity. Depots in Yola, Jos, Minna, Kano, Gusau, Aba, Maiduguri and Makurdi are now empty as a result of prolonged lack of use due to broken pipelines.

Some 8105 breaks were registered along the 2E system, which conveys products from the Port Harcourt refinery to Aba- Enugu-Makurdi depots and onwards to Yola-Enugu-Auchi, representing about 50.3% of the breaks, making it the most attacked system in the country. The 2A system, which conveys products from Warri-Benin-Suleja/Ore depots ranked second, with 3259 cases, representing about 20.2% of the total. The 2B System, which serves the Atlas Cove-Mosimi-Satelite-Ibadan-Ilorin depots recorded 2440 breaks, leading to a loss of over N73.6 billion in products and pipeline repairs.

Fuel transported from jetties in Lagos to different parts of the country is now almost exclusively conveyed via 'bridging' or road haulage in fuel tankers, which costs the government billions of Naira in subsidies.

The Chief of Defense Staff has pledged that the Armed Forces will continue to provide security cover for oil facilities in the country. In addition, IGP Onovo said the Nigerian Police is ready to assist in protecting the pipelines, but said that the force is ill equipped in terms of logistics and equipment to fight the pipeline vandals.

The President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Aminu Abdulkadir, has said that members have no choice but to sell above the benchmark price of N65/litre of petrol, due to high risks and high transportation costs involved in transporting fuel from the southern states to the far north.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/16032010/nigeria_increases_pipeline_security/