Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), has said vandals operating in the Niger Delta have afflicted 25 breakages on the Escravos-Warri pipeline, which conveys crude oil to the Warri and Kaduna refineries.
Its Managing Director, Mr Sulaiman Achimugu, at the 16th Annual General Meeting, said yesterday that contractors handling the repairs of the pipelines had on close examination, discovered that the crude line had a total of 25 breakages. Vandalisation of crude lines had been blamed for the inactivity of the Warri and Kaduna refineries since February 2006.
Achimugu, however, said contrary to expectations, the refineries had not resumed production, because the crude oil lines had not been restored. “It was impossible for the contractor to gain access the line in the Niger Delta. Even though they have been granted access, we discovered that instead of one location, 25 locations have been vandalised. We are presenting a request to government for approval to repair the 25 leakages.”
On why the company had not adopted other strategies of protecting the pipelines from vandalisation, especially technologies that could trigger off alarm once vandals strike, Achimugu argued that there was no other system available that was better than what the company was doing presently.
“We have to use human beings to do this job. Electronics, all sorts of things cannot work, because Nigerians would go there and remove the electronics you put in place.
Human surveillance in still the best option.”
He blamed the losses recorded in business on vandalisation and pirates, adding that pirates often attack staffers of the company who carry vessels in parts of Niger Delta, leading to loss of some of the products.
He also dismissed the option of relaying the lines, saying that it would take a very long time. “We are talking about what we can do in the interim.”
He said there was no indications that vandalisation would seize, adding that the only thing on the cards was devising strategies of combating it whenever it comes.
Achimugu stressed that the company had performed creditably despite recording losses, adding that it had maintained product supply despite the problems it had been encountering.
Jun82007