NNPC Ltd Releases Portal For Whistleblowers To Report Crude Oil Theft

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Tuesday released two portals where Nigerians can report incidents of crude oil theft in the country.

The two portals which were released by the National Oil company are http://stopcrudetheft.com and http://validate.stopcrudetheft.com

While the first portal http://stopcrudetheft.com was created to report cases of crude oil theft, the other portal http://validate.stopcrudetheft.com would help buyers and the government to validate documents from sale of crude oil through a Nigeria Export Proceeds Number.

The NNPC while releasing the portals called on Nigerians to join it in stopping crude oil theft at all production sites, pipelines, terminals, depots and the refineries.

It said that anyone who makes credible reports on the cases of crude oil would be handsomely rewarded.

“Join the fight, if you see something, say something. Handsome rewards await whistleblowers with useful information,” the NNPC said on the portal.

The NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari had last Friday during the launch of the portal said the move would help to check crude oil theft in the country and enable prompt reporting by community members.

He assured Nigerians that all the report made through the platform about crude oil theft would be treated with utmost confidentiality.

The theft of crude oil has been frustrating the efforts of the government in attracting fresh investments into the oil and gas industry through the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act.

Nigeria is losing 400,000 barrels per day to crude theft, the Minister of State Petroleum, Timipre Sylva said on Tuesday.

Within a three months period covering January 1 and March 31 this year, Nigeria lost a whopping amount of $1bn revenue to crude oil theft.

Four months ago, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva the Chief of Defence Staff Lucky Irabo and the NNPC LTD Group Chief Executive Officer Mele Kyari, visited the Niger Delta for an on-the-spot assessment of the damage done by vandals.

Just last month, Kyari, the European Union Delegation, top officials of the NNPC Ltd as well as representatives of security agencies again visited the Niger Delta Creeks to assess the ongoing fight against crude oil theft, illegal bunkering and vandalism of oil and gas installations.

Three days ago, Sylva, Irabor; Kyari and other top officials of government visited the Governors of Imo, Bayelsa and Delta States to get their support in tackling crude oil theft.

These visits underscore the efforts of the government in finding a lasting solution to the issue of crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism.

Speaking at the launch of the App, Kyari said it will enable overseas buyers to validate the originality of all crude oil received from Nigeria.

Kyari had said, “First, we have created a platform where members of the community and other Nigerians can report whenever incidences of theft occur and also reward them, and keep it confidential and private.

“We at the NNPC will guarantee absolute privacy on any such report that comes and I’m directly managing this myself as no one will be exposed.

“Secondly in the international scale, companies must report suspicious sale of crude. Every oil that leaves this country has a unique registration number that is issued by the NNPC and also validated by OPEC commission. And I know that the destination reporting framework is been put up by the Commission.

“Ahead of this, we are also creating a platform where end-users particularly investors and traders can validate the cruise they are handling from Nigeria as their only sources. And whenever they have a no validation report, then they have an obligation to report the necessary authorities anywhere in the world.

“If they don’t do these, as I always say that our companies are international which means they are part of the riggers and whenever we discover this, we will take necessary actions against them.

“And I’m sure that our partners will cooperate with us, to make sure that this is done. That way we know that we are looking at the market and also curtailing our local issues.”