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Battle against oil theft, illegal refineries in Rivers

Oil theft and illegal bunkering in the Niger Delta area is not a recent development. However, illegal oil trade has assumed a new dimension with the advent of illegal refineries, which has recently led to a new problem in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, with soot becoming an existential threat to inhabitants of the Garden City. EMMANUEL MASHA takes a look at the battle by Governor Nyesom Wike to end oil theft and break the back of those behind illegal refineries in the oil-rich state.

To fully understand oil bunkering in Rivers State and its deadly consequences, it is necessary for one to at least visit one of the illegal refining sites hidden in the forest, creek or riversides where stolen crude is transformed into various petroleum products. It is from these sites that soot, and other health hazards are manufactured and dished out to residents in the state.

There is no industrial revolution in the state that justifies the ubiquitous pollution the masses encounter on daily basis. In fact, the massive industrial work that used to take place at the Trans Amadi axis of Port Harcourt disappeared a few years ago when militancy was in full blast. One of the biggest industrial concerns that left Trans Amadi was Dunlop.

Yet, to breathe clean, fresh air in the Garden City now seems to be a big luxury. In the last six years, residents of the state have been battling pollution of all sorts. Their only response has been lamentation while quietly facing serious health challenges, especially respiratory diseases and cancer. In some communities, the vandalisation of pipelines have caused spills that contaminate rivers and streams that serve as major water source for domestic use. In the absence of a coordinated concerted effort to confront the menace, those behind bunkering have been smiling all the way to the bank. Bunkering is a big business. Many have made billions from it.

Every step taken by the criminals behind the business, known as kpofire in local parlance, in getting the particular petroleum product of their choice out of stolen or siphoned crude oil is strictly done for selfish reasons. It is their own interest versus the environment and the lives of the people living within their area of operation.

The criminal network of bunkering include greedy staff of multinational oil companies, foreign organised crime syndicates, freelancing foreigner and locals who use their understanding of the environment, especially the movement of the pipelines to maximum advantage.

Right in the open, kpofire operators in Rivers communities line up tanks of different sizes as well as pipes and other instruments for siphoning crude oil from pipelines. They also store heavy duty vehicles for the transportation of the equipment and then oil tankers for distribution to buyers in various destinations across the country. It is also worthy of note that some of the illegal bunkerers are well armed with deadly weapons to ward off intruders.

The deadliest aspect of the refining process is the burning of crude oil in metal tanks for transformation into finished products. The country’s crude oil, often referred to as Bonny Light Crude because of its lightness is easier to transform into any of the petroleum products than most crude oil obtained in other places. Bonny Light, is a light-sweet crude that has good gasoline yields, and boasts of very low sulphur content (0.14%). The koofire operators don’t adopt any special technology in the refining process other than the open burning of crude in highly concentrated fire.

It is that open burning that emits thick smoke up into the environment, travelling up in the sky to faraway places. That is why there is soot in Port Harcourt and several other towns in the state. Also, during burning, explosion can take place and burn those cooking the crude oil for refining. Late last year, an explosion at a refining site burnt about 25 persons in Rumuekpe Community in the Emohua Local Government Area. For years, these refining sites had been under the radar of security agencies, but the bunkerers still operated in full capacity unchallenged.

Over the years, the number of illegal refineries rose because local criminals with the resources and audacity to sabotage the country’s major source of revenue (crude oil) work with criminally-minded security agents that ought to safeguard identified vulnerable oil pipelines that move round the state and connect to neighbouring states. According to an oil industry watcher; “The kpofire operators are small players in the stealing of Nigeria’s oil.

The organised criminal networks from foreign countries buy stolen crude oil directly from federal agents who walk free despite the massive economic sabotage against the country.” In this partnership, the state governments, whose people and territory suffer the brunt of bunkering, are made helpless.

Without controlling any of the security agencies to confront the bunkerers the states only lament and sermonise about the dangers of the business. This status quo, which has existed for decades, is gradually changing. Recently, Governor Nyesom Wike declared war against oil thieves due to the soot menace.

Within weeks after he vowed to get them out of business through arrests and prosecutions, the collaboration between the oil thieves and conniving security operatives that give them the needed cover to operate has come under serious threat.

For the first time, the names of culpable security operatives came out and appeals for sanctions made. So far, a serving Divisional Police Officer, DPO has been called out for alleged collaboration with oil thieves. Also, some members of the Civil Defence Corps have been linked to bunkering. A serving major in the Nigerian army has also been accused of carrying out escort duties for oil thieves.

The allegation came from no other person than the governor. Lately, service chiefs, across security agencies have started beaming the searchlight on their own officers, while pursuing the relentless civilians spearheading the business. To prove that the allegation that some security operatives engage in oil theft, the council chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, George Ariolu, was prevented by armed policemen from destroying an illegal refinery discovered in a community in the council area. In a short video that has gone viral on the Internet, Ariolu and his team of task force members and security operatives were seen being resisted by some policemen they met at the site.

There were pushing and shoving among the security operatives amid screaming. But fortunately, common sense eventually prevailed as the security operatives did not fire at each other despite placing their guns in combat mode. Ariolu, who later spoke on the raid, stated that the soot menace is a battle for everyone and not for government alone to tackle.

He also accused some security personnel of aiding and abetting those involved in the pollution of the environment through their collaboration. A few days earlier, Wike had instructed the state’s 23 local government chairmen and traditional rulers to make life unbearable for the criminals.

The directive to the council bosses is simple: identify illegal refining sites; storm there with security operatives and destroy the sites. At a stakeholders meeting to combat bunkering, the governor urged traditional rulers not to be less concerned about the activities of illegal oil refinery operators, but to frantically mobilise members of their community Development Committees (CDC) and the leadership of their youth groups to work in synergy to dislodge them from their domain. It was also at the same meeting, attended by security chiefs that the governor disclosed that a serving major in the Nigerian Army was seen in an escort mission for the oil thieves.

He also regretted that the Federal Government which controls the oil industry and the security agencies has been indifferent to the soot pandemic and the damage it is inflicting on the health of the residents of Rivers State. “I should think that the way Federal Government intends to fight insurgency is the way they should fight illegal oil bunkering, because it is a sabotage on the national economy.

Very big sabotage. It affects our own revenue. “If we are supposed to produce two million barrels for example, we are now producing 1.2 million. And in that 1.2 million barrels, it affects Rivers State because we are not producing up to the number we are supposed to produce, and then we can’t get the money to do whatever you want us to do… “It is the responsibility of the Federal Government to see how this thing can be stopped.

As I speak to you, nobody has called me from the Federal Government to say how they can support us. But that is not my business. “My business is the health of my people. I will not because the Federal Government is not interested to stop it, therefore my people should die. If everybody dies, who are you going to govern.”

Wike, also berated the Nigerian Police for being complicit in the criminal act of illegal oil bunkering, which is why they are not very committed to the fight to stop the operations. He noted that the Nigerian Police has failed to arrest one Chief W. J.Wocha, Fubara Ohaka and other suspected members of the illegal bunkering cartel operating at Ibaa community in Ikwerre Local Government Area. He also fingered officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) for continuously being complicit in the act and shamelessly involved in sabotaging the national economy.

“I don’t know how I can be a security officer sent to a place to protect people, to protect whatsoever belongs to the Federal Government, at the same time, I’m involved in sabotaging the national economy. “I don’t understand how I can wear uniform and be involved in that. If they do not want to support us, we have no choice but to expose all the atrocities that is going on in this state.”

The stance of the governor against soot has not gone down well with the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which has read political meaning to it. The party has accused Wike of politicising the fight against soot in a bid to reap political dividends.

The party, in a statement signed by its publicity secretary, Chris Fynebone, observed that the governor refused to take action over the soot menace for many years despite the fact that there was a sustained outcry over it. Fynebone said: “In defending the many years that it took the governor to wake up from a deep sleep over the soot challenge, it is disheartening to find the state governor blaming everyone else but himself for doing nothing over the past 68 years in addressing the deadly soot. When the governor is not blaming security agents, he is blaming the Federal Government.

“Whereas the accusation against some security personnel may have some substance worthy of investigation, it is rather most unintelligent for the governor who heads a subnational government to blame the Federal Government for inaction on the deadly soot in Rivers State when the state government has not initiated any concrete action requiring synergy with the Federal Government.

“Indeed, government-to-government business is not conducted based on off-the-cuff comments of a governor at functions or events. “Can the Rivers State government provide proof of Save Our Souls (SOS) memos initiated by it and addressed to the Federal Government through Federal Ministry of Environment calling for the central government’s intervention on the matter?” Fynebone added: “Truth is that the governor never considered the soot descending on Port Harcourt and environs important enough for six years until now.

“All the APC is saying is that the governor should be honest enough to take responsibility for doing nothing for over six years even as citizens cried for help. “The governor should not merely go after grasshoppers while leaving the elephants to continue with their alternative economy that inflicts havoc on the lives of residents of the state.

“Beyond the blame game or the disagreement between the party and the governor, the calculated and sustained damage done by oil thieves to the economy has robbed the country of staggering revenue sums.” Again, the activities of the bunkerers have prevented the improvement of the country’s oil infrastructure as a result of massive vandalisation or sabotage of oil facilities. According to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the country loses over 115,000 barrels per day to oil theft and vandalism. Gbenga Komolafe, CEO of NUPRC, told the Senate Committee on Petroleum, Upstream, led by Bassey Akpan, that the commission hit N1.99 trillion revenue in 2020, surpassing its forecast of N1.746 trillion by about 13.98 per cent. Komolafe said that in 2021, the commission targeted revenue of N3.066 trillion, but was only able to generate N2.711 trillion, resulting in 88.45 percent.

He also said that its target revenue for 2022 remained N3.38 trillion, substantially exceeding its 2021 revenue projection of N3 trillion, attributing the underperformance to mostly oil theft, sabotage, vandalism as well as technical issues, including ruptures associated with the assets.

“We are losing about 115,926 barrels per day – so that literally translates to roughly about $300 million, and that’s a huge loss to a nation that actually requires these funds… “But the larger percentage is due to crude oil theft, and as a commission, we know the impact of this, and recognising our regulatory role, we have been able to reach out to other operators as to what we can do about this,” he added. As far as the fight against oil theft and its attendant soot is concerned, the constitution has destined the Federal Government to play a bigger role than the states.

Take gas flaring for instance, which is regarded by experts as the second most destructive environmental pollutant in the Niger Delta after oil spillage. Despite years of outcry against the practice by states in the Niger Delta, whose people bear the brunt of the practice, oil companies continue to flare gas and degrade the environment. According to findings, gas flaring in the Niger Delta persists due to poor regulation and commitment to tackle the problem. According to experts, the toxic fumes from the flared gas cause many environmental and health problems, and the practice increases the risk of global warming.

Since 2005, the country’s courts have ruled that oil companies stop flaring gas in the Niger Delta following a case filed by the Iwherekan community against Shell Petroleum Development Company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and Nigeria’s Attorney General. The court simply made it clear that gas flaring was unconstitutional because it is a violation of people’s right to life.

If the courts have taken a stance against gas flaring, the enforcement then falls into the hands of the government at the centre. Late last year, at a United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, President Muhammadu Buhari promised that Nigeria would cut its carbon emissions to net zero by 2060 by reducing its pervasive gas flaring practice.

According to NNPC’s monthly oil and gas reports, between 2016 and 2020, Nigeria flared 1, 252.26 trillion cubic feet of natural gas into the atmosphere. To understand the failure of the FG in its handling of the environmental challenges in the Niger Delta, the Ogoni cleanup readily comes to mind. Despite the huge resources budgeted
and expended on the project, the people of Ogoni continue to lament the slow pace of work. In fact, some observers have labeled the body charged with the clean-up, the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, as a tool being used by the government to execute a political game plan.

The forum of Ogoni Elders and Leaders under the aegis of Gbo Kabaari Ogoni, sometime ago accused the Federal Government of playing games with the lives of the people due to the failure of HYPREP to deliver the clean-up project transparently to the affected communities. Chairman of the body, Sen Bennett Birabi, said: “Regrettably, rather than address the issues so raised, HYPREP has instead continued in the unfortunate path of reinforcing failure and engaging in propaganda to cover up its failures at the expense of the health and lives of the hapless people of Ogoni.

Some of the issues we drew its attention to earlier, have now snowballed and assumed very complex dimensions. “This, in our view, is an insulting conspiratorial arrangement to perpetually under-develop Ogoni. It depicts the manner of games that are played with the lives of Ogoni people, but it has got to stop.” The evil of oil theft is real. It’s stranglehold on the environment is also real. But the business cannot be totally wiped out because of the ready market for locally refined petroleum products. According to findings, about 70 percent kerosene supply is controlled by kpofire operators.

There is a continuous demand and supply interplay between them and the general public. Most times, while most filling stations lament their inability to get supply, kpofire operators flood the product throughout Port Harcourt and neighbouring towns. They also sell at affordable price too. Most low income families in Rivers depend on kerosene for cooking, rather than gas. Despite a recent increase in the price of kpofire kerosene, Rivers remains the state where one can buy kerosene at a very low price when compared with other states. Despite the lamentations about soot most families still rely on kerosene supplied by kpofire operators for cooking. A few months ago, the price of kerosene attracted about 25 percent increase. But that did not deter people from buying because the price of cooking gas was very discouraging.

According to a kpofire operator, the increase was caused by policemen who collect toll on “any jerrycan carrying kerosene within Port Harcourt even though they have left the site.” Daily, from the town axis of Port Harcourt to Flyover in Mile I, police officers and informants are on the lookout for vehicles carrying jerrycans loaded with kerosene for extortion. “What you pay depends on the number of jerrycans you carry. For each 20-litre jerrycan, you pay N1000 with abeg,” says a lady that sells kerosene at Sangana Market in Mile 1. A few years ago, the refining of kerosene was poorly handled at illegal refineries, causing explosions during use. Many suffered various degrees of burns, while a few lost their lives. According to the kpofire operator, knowledge sharing and updates on refineries techniques within the industry solved the problem. “If you noticed, the kerosene in the market is almost colourless. There is a particular chemical we use in purifying it. Also, it no longer explodes during use like before,” he added.

A few years ago, the Federal Government mulled the idea of modular refineries across the Niger Delta in order to harness the talent pool of illegal refiners. The Federal Government knew very well they engaged in criminal activities, but equally recognise the role they play in the production of petroleum products and their contributions to the local economy. Some observers continue to question the economic sense in the exportation of crude oil to far distant places for refining and later importing the finished petroleum products. To them, such practice is detrimental to any serious-minded country that wants its currency to stabilise and gain value.

The right approach, according an observer; “Is to issue licenses to local refiners to operate their own modular refineries.” At a point, the Federal Government started considering such move. That was why in 2017, the then Acting President Yemi Osinbajo promised that the Federal Government would establish modular refineries to engage youths involved in illegal oil refineries. The sole aim was to discourage illegal refining in the region. Osinbajo made the promise in Port Harcourt at a stakeholders meeting with members of APC.

He said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government was sincerely committed to ensuring that young men and women in the region were properly engaged. Shortly after Osinbajo’s promise, there were discussions about the issuance of licences to those interested in modular refineries.

But almost five years later, it appears the plan has been ditched. Fyneface Dunamene Fyneface, the director of Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC), based in Port Harcourt, is optimistic that the Federal Government will still go ahead with Modular Refineries for artisanal crude oil refiners and it would kick off in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

Fyneface, who beginning from 2017 served as the National Facilitator of Project with Artisanal Crude Oil Refiners (PACOR) in the Niger Delta, strongly feels that “Modular Refining of petroleum products would kick up and spell the end of environmental pollution associated with artisanal refining as well as of crude oil theft in the Niger Delta region.”

As the fight against oil theft intensifies, one disturbing situation, according to an expert in the oil and gas industry remains the open destruction of seized petroleum products from kpofire operators. He said: “Be it the military or policemen that raid the hideout of oil thieves, setting them ablaze constitute serious hazard to the environment and health of the people. Whatever task force fighting kpofire operators should be empowered with tankers to remove both crude oil or finished petroleum products from illegal refining sites to storage centres.” “The same applies to tankers suspected of carrying tankers loaded with petroleum products from stolen crude. Rather than burning them outright on the spot, they should be confiscated.”

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