According to oil assets surveillance contractors, crude oil tapping points have been discovered in the Ogbonga, Oloma community in the Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State. The contractors encouraged the security services to look into the issue right away.

In an interview with reporters in Port Harcourt on Saturday, 14 October 2023, Graham Pepple, the secretary of the Oil Assets Surveillance Contractors Forum in Bonny Kingdom, claimed that the group had found the Shell Petroleum Development Company’s unlawful loading point on the Trans Niger Pipeline.

In a statement Pepple said, “We call on the Military, Police, Civil defence, and other appropriate security high commands to move in and look into the illicit oil loading point located in the community of Ogbonga, Oloma.

“It was discovered that the unauthorized connection had been set up to supply unauthorized refineries from the TNP Line. We encouraged the security agency to launch a thorough inquiry to identify individuals responsible for setting up the bunkering line.

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He stated that his party was concerned that such illegal operations were continuing despite the houseboat stations in the area being guarded by security forces.

“We are surprised that loading of illegally refined products via a line illegally connected to the TNP at Ogbonga area of Bonny Island is still taking place despite the strong presence of the Army and Navy houseboats stationed around the said location,” the statement reads.

“We are not jumping to any conclusions,” Pepple, a surveillance contractor with SPDC, continued. All we can say at this time is that the security high commands should work quickly to conduct extensive investigations to determine the nature of the incident. We are there to provide assistance and helpful information.

Ineffective attempts were made to contact SPDC spokesman Michael Adande because he hadn’t returned calls. In response to a text, he said he would research the matter and get back to our correspondent, but as of the time this report was submitted on Sunday afternoon, he still hadn’t done so.