Saturday 26 October 2013

Oil theft: FG to use electronic pipeline surveillance

The Federal Government is
exploring the possibility of using an electronic
pipeline surveillance to track oil theft in the
country, President Goodluck Jonathan, said on
Saturday. Jonathan gave this indication in his closing
remarks at a two-day oil and gas investment
forum in Onne, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Jonathan, who was represented by the Senate
President, David Mark, described the menace of oil
theft as worrisome, stressing, however, that
government was ready to tackle it headlong. “Relevant regulatory agencies are working round
the clock to combat the challenge, considering
the strategic position of oil and gas in the
economy.



“My administration has embarked on a number of
far-reaching measures to combat these
unwholesome activities. Government is exploring
the possibility of using electronic pipeline
surveillance to track down oil theft.” While stressing that the government was putting
in place mechanism to ensure that vandals found
it extremely difficult to access petroleum
pipelines, the president gave assurance of
continuous support to an investment drive in the
sector. “To this end, I am calling on all relevant industries
to ensure that all oil and gas related cargo are
discharged only at the designated terminals,” he
said. The President directed that the agencies
concerned should also ensure strict enforcement
on the ban on the illegal discharge of cargo and
receiving of vessels at private jetties. He said that steps should be taken to guard
against the breach of national security and loss of
revenue to the government. Jonathan said the choice of the Onne oil and gas
free trade zone was strategic, as it will showcase
the investors’ confidence in the Nigerian economy
as “seeing is believing”. According to him, government generated revenue
in the zone has increased from $5.4 billion to $
7.1 billion in 2013 and the FDI from $4 billion to $
4.2 billion dollars in 2013. “Available statistics indicate that the companies
operating in the free zone have increased from
150 in 2011 to 170 in 2013, employment
regeneration has increased from 30,000 in 2011
to 34,000 in 2013. “Support to family livelihood has grown from
180,000 in 2011 to 200,000 in 2013. If these
indices are not indicating an attractive
environment for investors, I wonder what else
they are,” he said.

No comments:

Post a Comment