BLP Oil & Gas Update Creative Doc.pdf April 2014 | Page 3

as intermediaries in securing stolen oil in Nigeria and arranging for its
transportation to clients in Russia or Eastern Europe.

Plugging the leak
Stopping the theft in Nigeria requires a determined and sustained approach
at a national and local level.
Nigeria has launched initiatives to combat the problem in the past. Following
a request from the Nigerian Oil Ministry in 2012, a committee led by the
former head of the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
Nuhu Ribadu, produced a 146-page report on corruption in the export of
Nigerian oil between 2002 and 2011.

Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan has stated that government is
exploring the possibility of using electronic pipeline surveillance to track oil
theft and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)
commissioned oilfield services company Schlumberger to carry out a study
on the protection and surveillance of pipelines in Nigeria in 2010. It hoped the
Texan company could help it adopt metering at oil well heads, flow stations
and export terminals.
Schlumberger proposed a demonstration of its surveillance system with an
initial trial in Southampton, a major UK port, followed by a live test with the
Shell Petroleum Development Company at the Afam oil field near the
southern coast of Nigeria. The surveillance system would include the use of
long-range infrared CCTV cameras and Schlumberger would report
incidents.
“Without direct and technologically sophisticated action at each stage of the
oil transportation process...it’s unlikely that any progress will be made in
reducing the oil theft”
Schlumberger also proposed installing a pipeline monitoring system at Shell’s
O kolola gas plant in the Afam field to detect leaks and activity around the
pipeline, with a command and response post set up at Schlumberger’s