THE plan by stakeholders in the nation’s oil and gas industry to find lasting solutions to the menace of pipeline vandalism may have run into a hitch as security agencies and the international oil companies, IOCs could not agree on the method to be adopted.
The post IOCs, security agencies disagree over use of drones to check pipeline vandalism appeared first on Vanguard News.
By Sebastine Obasi
THE plan by stakeholders in the nation’s oil and gas industry to find lasting solutions to the menace of pipeline vandalism may have run into a hitch as security agencies and the international oil companies, IOCs could not agree on the method to be adopted.
Industry sources told Vanguard that while the IOCs favour the use of drones and other high technology devices to monitor oil facilities, security agencies, such as the military and State Security Services, SSS are opposed to that, citing security concerns.
Before now, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ibas, had said that the Nigerian Navy would collaborate with other security agencies to deploy any measure that will result to checkmating illegal oil bunkering and pipeline vandalism.
Ibas had stated: “We are deploying electronic surveillance equipment to ensure that this menace is brought to an end. “Secondly, the Navy has standby response teams ready to move at the quickest deployment because even if the drones are deployed as disclosed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, it is the Navy that will be required to implement the response aspect.”
Security monitoring
However, Vanguard learnt that the Navy must have succumbed to pressures and aligned with other security agencies who cautioned against the use of drones and remotely operated area vehicle, ROAV.
The security agents were said to have insisted on the need to guard against allowing the technology to slip into the hands of terrorists, militants and kidnappers, who they fear, could use the technology to undermine the precarious security of the country.
Drones are automated (pilotless) micro aircraft used for security monitoring and surveillance purposes, often described as “eyes in the sky.”
According to the Social Science Research Network, SSRN, drones are “less expensive and more efficient than conventional aircraft at tracking the movements of large numbers of people without their knowledge. The capabilities of onboard instruments like high-resolution cameras, infrared devices, facial recognition systems, and other sensory enhancing technologies will make it virtually impossible to shield oneself from government watch.” This informed its use by the IOCs to monitor oil installations in Nigeria.
It was learnt that between 2015 and 2016, Nigeria recorded about 3,400 attacks on the various pipelines in the country. The effect was a shut-in of about 250,000 barrels a day and a net loss of over $7 billion.
According to an official of one of the IOCs who preferred to be anonymous, it is very expensive to use helicopter to monitor oil installations in Nigeria.
He stated: “Helicopter is more expensive. Oil majors are not finding it funny, cost wise to deploy helicopter, especially this period that oil price is low. That is why we are talking about drones.
Moreover, a drone can be deployed both at night and day, but helicopter is used only during the day,” he said.
The plan of the oil majors to use drones in Nigeria followed the successful use in other oil producing countries.
In 2013, ConocoPhillips (COP) conducted the first drone flight in commercial airspace off the coast of Alaska, in the United States of America. It used the ScanEagle, built by a subsidiary of Boeing Corporation. In 2014, BP Plc (BP) received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to use drones to monitor its pipeline network in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
It’s using the Puma AE, built by California-based AeroVironment Incorporated. Also in 2014, Royal Dutch Shell Plc began using drones from VDOS Global to inspect its flare stacks in the Gulf of Mexico.
The post IOCs, security agencies disagree over use of drones to check pipeline vandalism appeared first on Vanguard News.
Tanwa Ashiru
Tanwa Ashiru is a U.S Airforce veteran, and the CEO of Bulwark Intelligence Solutions. She holds an M.A in Intelligence Studies from American Military University (AMU) and is a Fellow of the Association of Enterprise Risk Management Professionals (AERMP).
Tanwa has provided services for various public and private sector organizations including: NATO, Nigerian DIA, U.S Army Africa Forces (USARAF), Total E&P, IBM Nigeria, U.S Embassy Abuja and many more.
She has featured in several international media publications including: BBC World, Arise News, CNBC Africa, The Guardian Nigeria, Channels Television, Financial Times, and many more.