In a recent development, surveillance contractors responsible for monitoring oil assets in the region have discovered a crude oil tapping point in Ogbonga, Oloma community, situated in the Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. The contractors are urgently calling upon law enforcement agencies to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.
The Secretary of the Oil Assets Surveillance Contractors Forum in Bonny Kingdom, Mr. Graham Pepple, shared details of the discovery with the press in Port Harcourt. He revealed that the illicit tapping point was located on the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP), which belongs to the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
Pepple stressed, “We call on the military, police, civil defense, all relevant security high commands to move in to investigate the illegal oil loading point sited at Ogbonga, Oloma community.”
This unauthorized connection was apparently established to supply illegal refineries with crude oil from the TNP Line. The contractors are urging the security authorities to conduct a comprehensive investigation to identify those responsible for installing the illicit tapping infrastructure.
Mr. Pepple expressed his group’s concern about these criminal activities persisting despite the presence of houseboat stations manned by security agencies near the location. He said, “We are surprised that despite the robust presence of the army and navy houseboats stationed around the said location, loading of illegally refined products via a line illegally connected to the TNP at Ogbonga area of Bonny Island is still going on.”
Graham Pepple, who is also a Surveillance Contractor working with SPDC, emphasized that they are not making any hasty conclusions and are ready to provide valuable information to support security investigations.
Efforts to obtain a response from SPDC’s spokesperson, Michael Adande, were unsuccessful at the time of reporting. He had promised to look into the matter and provide a response but had not done so as of Sunday afternoon.