Illegal Refineries: NNPC Strengthens Synergy With Security Agencies

The NNPC says it is strengthening its partnership with security agencies to rid the country of illegal refineries.
Mr Fidel Pepple, the NNPC Acting Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division, said this on Thursday in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Pepple, who decried the menace of illegal refineries and oil theft as well as its negative effect on the nation’s economy, urged all stakeholders to join the fight against the menace.

The NNPC says it is strengthening its partnership with security agencies to rid the country of illegal refineries.
Mr Fidel Pepple, the NNPC Acting Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division, said this on Thursday in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Pepple, who decried the menace of illegal refineries and oil theft as well as its negative effect on the nation’s economy, urged all stakeholders to join the fight against the menace.
According to him, the nation loses about 180,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) to oil theft and illegal refineries.
He, however, added that there had been a better coordination in the operations of security operatives with the setting up of the Task Force on Oil Theft by the Minister of Petroleum Resources.
“There has been better coordination and results with the setting up of the Special Task Force by the minister and I am sure we will soon conquer this challenge,’’ he said.
The acting GMD said that the surge in the operations of the Joint Task Force (JTF) led to a lot more illegal refineries being discovered and destroyed.
He appealed to host communities to volunteer information to security operatives about the hideout of miscreants so as to arrest and destroy their warehouse.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, inaugurated a Special Task Force on Oil Theft in May.
The Task Force comprises service chiefs and oil companies.
The activities of the JTF led to the arrest of culprits in the Niger Delta and the destruction of illegal refineries in the region and other parts of the country