Twelve crew members have been paraded three days after their arrest at Pennington Oil Field off the coast of Bayelsa state by a joint operation of the Pipeline surveillance Contractor, TANTITA security services and Nigerian Security and Civil Defense corps.
They were paraded along with their vessel loaded with two hundred thousand litres of crude oil at the Escravos waterways in Warri south West local government area of Delta state.
Report by Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) in 2023 reveals that in the decade to 2020, Nigeria lost $46.26 billion worth of crude oil to theft, an average of 140,000 barrels per day.
Every other month, security agencies have had their hands full, trying to stop these economic saboteurs.
The latest is this arrest.
Narrating how they were apprehended, the Executive Director of operation of the Tantita security service confirmed that they have been on the trail of suspected Vessel when it departed Lagos to the Pennington Oil Field, which is close to Furopa, Ezeotu, Letugbene and Bilabiri in Bayelsa state.
The captain of the vessel who confessed to carrying out the crime, revealed that he was directed to convey Automated Gas Oil, also known as diesel but ended up siphoning crude oil.
For the Pipeline Surveillance Contractor the fight against these oil thieves will continue despite campaign of calumny against the outfit.
It also pledges to contribute its quota, in ensuring Nigeria attains its target of 2 million barrels per day.
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