WikiLeaks names ex-first lady, others as oil thieves

New United States Government cables published by whistleblower, WikiLeaks, have identified a former first lady (names withheld), unnamed highly placed Nigerians, senior military officers, Lebanese, Iranian, British and American businessmen as oil thieves. The cables claim that they all played active roles in the illegal bunkering business in the Niger Delta.

The cables also put the huge loss that the country sustained from illegal bunkering at about 91million barrels of oil per annum.

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The three cables containing the revelations were written by US diplomats in Abuja and Lagos and sent to their home governments between November 2004 and November 2009.

The first cable is titled, “Niger Delta: Guns and thugs rule the land”, the second, “Captain Crusader versus bunkering bandits”; and the third, “The fundamentals of illegal oil bunkering in Nigeria.”

The cables detail the security, political, and humanitarian situation in the Niger Delta based on field visits by US political and economic officers and the interviews they conducted with military officers and key players in the illegal business.

One of the cables says, “Illegal oil bunkering runs rampant in the region. Mission reporting has linked shady oil deals to XYZ (a former first lady). Ijaw and Itsekiri youths and elders accuse unnamed high-ranking politicians in Abuja. Unconfirmed reports claim that Lebanese nationals possibly funding the terrorist groups Hamas and Hizbollah, the Russian Mafia, and drug cartels are (also) involved.”

In another cable, a senior military officer who spoke to the Americans likened illegal oil bunkering in Nigeria to the drug trade in Colombia.

While describing how illegal bunkerers operate, one of the cables says, “A tanker (mother ship) anchors approximately 50 miles offshore during daylight to avoid being spotted by Navy coastal patrols. Arrangements are made for villagers to tap into the Delta’s vast network of pipelines, usually in the swamps, and fill small oil barges. At nightfall the mother ship moves closer to shore, where the barges are pulled alongside and the crude is transferred, allowing the tanker to slip away without detection.

“This process of “bunkering” is what has given the business of oil-theft in Nigeria its common name. Aerial and satellite photography confirm the loading of hundreds of barges with oil each day. The barge cargoes transfer to smaller tankers, many of which foreigners operate under false names and registrations. U.S., U.K., and Lebanese citizens participate in this trade.”

One of the key players in the region who also spoke to the Americans said that “powerful men from Abuja” hired locals who worked with oil company employees, security forces and militants to carry out the illegal trade.

According to the cable, “Higher ranking military officers or civilian leaders protected barges of illegal oil against attacks by militants before the amnesty by “settling” (paying) the militants in advance. Operators of tankers and tanker terminals, including employees of major international oil companies and local contractors, allegedly colluded in many illegal transactions.”

The cables claim that Nigeria loses billions per year to oil theft, lamenting that individuals benefitting from the sale of stolen oil do not re-invest in oil exploration or production.

One says, “While some of the revenues may filter down to inhabitants by way of pay-offs, the bulk of earnings are diverted outside the country into the international bank accounts of the beneficiaries.

“Oil theft siphons off the “life-blood” of the Nigerian economy for private gain before taxation or crediting to the national account. Various experts have estimated the volume of oil theft at between 100,000 and 250,000 barrels per day or as much as 91 million barrels per year. This amounts to billions of dollars in lost revenue for the Nigerian treasury every year, regardless of the price of oil on any given day. (NB: At current oil prices the annual revenue loss is between $2.9 and $7.3 billion. END NOTE.)”zzzzzzz

The diplomats who filed the cables wrote that though government officials had repeatedly requested U.S. assistance to prevent bunkering, it was a problem that Nigeria could and should solve.

“The reality, however, is that most oil bunkering is not a global phenomenon readily susceptible to international deterrence, but a largely Nigerian development that requires domestic resolution. No other, major oil-producing country, to our knowledge, loses as much revenue from illicit oil bunkering as Nigeria, largely because the political elite, militants, and communities profit from such operations. Tackling this problem will require resolute political will from many sectors of Nigerian society.”

Source: Punch