Temitope
Temitope Akinola
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has revealed its plan to deploy drones to monitor the movement of ships in a bid to fight oil theft on Nigeria's waterways.
The disclosure was made by the Corporation's Managing Director, Ibe Kachukwu at a special conference on the security on the Gulf of Guinea.
"We are launching an armada of approaches which will include incorporation of drones to check movements of vessels within our territorial waters," he said, according to an NNPC official statement.
"We are looking at the current logistical nightmares of changing staffing at the loading bay of crude oil export terminals virtually every 90 days", he added.
Kachukwu said NNPC was also trying to help the Nigerian Navy make up for lack of equipment to carry out patrols. This is expected to end oil theft within the next eight months.
The NNPC boss said if oil theft was not curbed, NNPC will be rendered incapable to operate the nation's four refineries.
He said between a space of one year, (June 2014 and June 2015), nearly 4,000 attacks were made on its pipelines across the country, and that a total of 350 people including NNPC workers, policemen, local community members had been killed by oil thieves in the past three years.
Yahoo News
The disclosure was made by the Corporation's Managing Director, Ibe Kachukwu at a special conference on the security on the Gulf of Guinea.
"We are launching an armada of approaches which will include incorporation of drones to check movements of vessels within our territorial waters," he said, according to an NNPC official statement.
"We are looking at the current logistical nightmares of changing staffing at the loading bay of crude oil export terminals virtually every 90 days", he added.
Kachukwu said NNPC was also trying to help the Nigerian Navy make up for lack of equipment to carry out patrols. This is expected to end oil theft within the next eight months.
The NNPC boss said if oil theft was not curbed, NNPC will be rendered incapable to operate the nation's four refineries.
He said between a space of one year, (June 2014 and June 2015), nearly 4,000 attacks were made on its pipelines across the country, and that a total of 350 people including NNPC workers, policemen, local community members had been killed by oil thieves in the past three years.
Yahoo News
