By Kingsley Omose
Considering the Dangote Refinery has a capacity to refine 650,000 barrels of crude oil daily, and can meet the petroleum products needs of Nigeria, West Africa and other parts of Africa including exporting outside Africa, is Mele Kyari implying there are illegal refineries in the Niger Delta with the combined capacities to out produce Dangote Refinery?
And since we are talking about the Niger Delta here with its unique terrain, wouldn’t it mean that these thieves and vandals also have their parrel pipeline network to move 1,000,000 barrels of crude oil daily obtained from Oil Bunkering through pipeline tapping, to these illegal refineries in the Niger Delta?
And even worse, these vandals and thieves that are now supposedly able to move 1,000,000 barrels of stolen crude oil per day, to their illegal off takers in the Niger Delta with their rudimentary refineries, are they now able to refine petrol, jet fuel, in addition to the usual low-quality diesel?
Surely these illegal refineries in the Niger Delta also now have storage facilities for the low quality petroleum products they now produce from refining 1,000,000 barrels of stolen crude oil a day and the accompanying infrastructure for their evacuation to end users, all these unknown to Nigerian end users and the relevant authorities and agencies?
Quite the contrary. Mele Kyari calling those who are supposedly able to steal and move 1,000,000 barrels of crude oil per day thieves and vandals is the true art of DOUBLE SPEAK. Double Speak according to Meta AI is language that deliberately distorts or reverses the meaning of words, often used in politics or propaganda to deceive or manipulate.
In this instance, those referred to as thieves and vandals and engaging in Oil Bunkering according to Mele Kyari are those who seemly have the infrastructure and assets to take averagely 1,000,000 barrels of crude oil daily and largely for export, whether utilising parallel pipeline networks or already existing pipeline infrastructure.
These thieves and vandals are not those operating “Kpokpo Fire” or “bush refining” or artisanal refining” as illegal refiners of crude oil are known in the Niger Delta. These are vandals and thieves that have parallel pipeline networks or using existing pipelines, and Long-Range Vessels of appropriate DWT (Dead Weight Ton) that can move the quantity of crude oil of at least 1,000,000 barrels of oil per day.
These are thieves and vandals that have their own highly developed export processes for crude oil to match, and which sales proceeds do not go to the appropriate bank accounts set up by FG/NNPCL. During the Sani Abacha regime, there was a scandal of multiple bank accounts being set up to receive crude oil proceeds, so nothing is impossible in Nigeria.
But back to the statement made by Mele Kyari, MD of NNPCL quoted earlier, these thieves and vandals who can steal and evacuate 1,000,000 barrels of crude oil daily are those whose activities in the Niger Delta are not hidden. They are visible to the naked eyes on the water ways and sea, and to drones and satellites above. These thieves and vandals are the ones holding the knife and the yam.
Concluded
Kingsley Omose, a public analyst contributed this article from Lagos
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