By Anayo Korie
The Management of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) have pledged to work together in order to promote the on-going acquisition of seismic data in the Chad Basin and to curb crude oil theft in the creeks of the Niger Delta.
The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Joseph T. Dawha who dropped the hint In a courtesy call to the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu,in Abuja yesterday said the visit was to foster closer cooperation and collaboration between NNPC and NAF for the socio-economic growth, peace, security and stability of the country.
Dawha noted that the Nigerian Air Force has provided invaluable services to the oil and gas Industry through the Joint Task Force tagged ‘Operation Pulo Shield,” where the NAF is one of the key players.
The GMD said, the support to the industry from the 81 Air Maritime Group in Benin and 97 Special Operations Group in Port Harcourt has always been an additional layer of security for the Corporation’s assets in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors.
Dawha observed that security of personnel, crude and product lines have become a major challenge requiring continuous collaboration and intervention by the Government Security Agencies.
Responding, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Amosu expressed the readiness of the Nigerian Air Force to collaborate with the NNPC to check the incidences of crude oil theft in the creek of the Niger Delta.
He noted that the Air Force has a crew of robust and capable men who are ready to contain the tide of insurgents in the North East which covers the Chad Basin exploratory activities of the NNPC and crude oil thieves in the creeks of the Niger Delta, adding that with the rapid response aerial surveillance platform of NAF, the days of indiscriminate crude oil and products theft are over.