Royal Dutch Shell, Nigeria unit is aiming to tackle the growth of stolen crude from the country with the use of technology and improved security at its facilities.
Nigeria is losing around 250,000 b/d to oil theft, according to an independent government
| Barrels of crude oil |
"We are looking at technologies to allow us trace stolen oil," Shell country chairman Mutiu Sunmonu said on Tuesday. "We recognise that this menace is beyond what Shell alone can solve and we are working closely with other stakeholders to raise awareness about the dangers of crude theft to people and the environment
while at the same time improving security around our pipelines."
Shell was doing "all that is technically feasible to ensure adequate maintenance of its pipelines in spite of disruption by vandals", the firm said.
A Shell spokesman said that the firm had partially re-opened its Trans Niger pipeline which had been shut after a fire caused by thieves.
"The key issue of concern to us is crude theft, with its wider implications for security and environmental pollution," Sunmonu said. The delta region ecosystem has been affected by decades of oil and gas pollution, with a United Nations investigation estimating it will take over 30 years to clean up the damage.
Shell said it remained committed to paying financial compensation to a Nigerian community for two oil spills in the Bodo area of the Niger delta in 2008.
Negotiations between legal representatives of the firm and the community started in Nigeria on 9 September but villagers in Bodo have rejected Shell's initial compensation offer. Shell is disputing the number of claimants who say they were impacted by the two spills.
"Our strategy still remains making a fair and speedy compensation to legitimate claimants," Sunmonu said. Shell accepted responsibility in 2011 for the spills.
The size of any financial compensation will be watched by other upstream operators in Nigeria, including Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total and Italian oil firm Eni.
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