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| Illegal Refinery teared down by the Military |
Activities
of operators of illegal refineries have been blamed for the drastic drop in
crude oil production. Illegal refining and crude theft have grown beyond the
Niger Delta. To stop the trend, several billions of Naira has been expended to
secure pipelines and fight oil bunkerers.
There are various schools of thought
on how to curb the problem. While some opt for use of military might, others
call for legalizing the process with licences given to operators. One of the
illegal refinery operators, Chief Titi Governor called for the legalizing of
the operation, insisting that this will end oil theft, generate employment and
boost the economy.
Governor, who invented the electric
refining oven with the capacity to refine over 50, 000 litres of products in
one trip, insisted that illegal refining cannot be stopped by the destruction
of illegal refineries but the process can be improved upon.
“This is electric method of refining
introduced by me; it works using high electrical heating procedure. God gave me
this revelation after the militancy crisis; you know that necessity is the
mother of invention."
A thought came one day that if I
could construct a refinery using electric heaters, it will work and refine
better than the fire wood heating employed by others. That was how I started
the process. Refining has semblance to alcohol refining whereby palm wine is
heated to become local gin (Ogogoro). That is the experiment and it works for
me,” he stated.
He continued:
“I am a seaman who had travelled far and wide.
While travelling round the world, I studied the white man refining over there.
I adopted his method because it does not flare gas to pollute the environment."
It has a method of harnessing the
gas during the refining process through a special pipe provision and conversion
method. Unlike our local refiners who pollute the environment, my method is
sophisticated and efficient. I use 350KVA heater in the oven. I installed two
of such powered by two big plants, each for one heater.
My refining capacity
“I can produce 50,000 litres per
trip while my oven can produce about four trips in 24 hours, which is about
200,000 litres in a day. I started with two heaters because the system requires
a lot of voltage. I intended to install eight heaters before the military Joint
Task Force came to destroy the place.
I had a gigantic crude storage tank,
which I constructed with about N8million; it has the capacity to store eight
trucks, which is about 264,000 litres. The idea was conceived after discovering
that Geepee tanks usually catch fire and because we are safety conscious and
don’t want any form of industrial accident, we opted for steel plate tanks.
When crude boat comes, we offload
them into the storage tank from where we start operation- so that the boat can
go and bring another consignment of crude.
“My method refines quality petrol, kerosene,
diesel and gas. The quality of my product is better than what they produce in
government refineries because we took samples of the products to laboratory for
test. We actually did the sample test before we started mass production, though
production never lasted for over two weeks before the military came to destroy
all my efforts."
Our source of crude
“We have many sources where we get
crude. We get from anywhere. Getting the crude is not difficult. We know that
it is from illegal source but it is our area where the crude is being extracted
and we know the method of getting it.”
Government needs to licence our
operation
“The business is a very profitable
one; I can pay staff even better than Chevron and Shell Petroleum Development
Company, SPDC, if given licence to operate. We will create jobs and can stop
sea pirates as a lot of youths will be gainfully engaged in the refining
business.”
I believe strongly that kidnapping,
prostitution and armed robbery will also become a thing of the past. Our
business has the ability to engage both skilled and unskilled persons, no one
will risk his life when there is genuine means of livelihood. We pay per drum
refined and it is daily payment. Before the destruction, we made good money.
“We can meet the regulatory standard if our
operation is licenced and if government approves our operation, we can stop
importation of refined products, grow the economy as we will have all the
required professionals too. It is a win-win situation, the standard will even
be higher because we will have power and encouragement to improve on the refining
method we have adopted. We assure the price of petrol will be reduced from the
present N97 per litre and there will never be fuel scarcity in the country. We
will even grow the economy faster as we will begin to export refined products.
We can build modular refineries
“For now we can’t build modular
refineries, but if government assists us we can do it. The important issue is
that our operation be legalized by giving us licence.
My decision to speak out is borne
out of the fact that the daily destruction of these local refineries is not the
solution; so doing can only push the operators into stealing. Since we have the
ability to refine and build the national economy and create jobs, we have to
cry out . This is brain development by the Ijaw people and it cannot die; it
should be developed. Destruction of illegal refineries does more harm and
pollution than the refiners, the Federal Government has to do something about
it."
I had over 25 workers. But since the
destruction of my camp, they have all been thrown into hunger. Government
should look into this issue. I feed and accommodate my staff and they are
happy. I pay N1, 000 to the workers per drum; if two workers produce 40 drums
over night, they have N40, 000. So you can imagine if they produce 100 drums
for 24 hours.
Accident-free
“We have safety personnel in our
operation I worked as a safety officer at sea, so we don’t compromise safety.
We never recorded any accident during our brief operation. We regulate our oven
fire very well since it is electrical; we ensure every standard of safety is
maintained."
My experience so far
“I started refining business three
years ago using the local technique. So the money I made I used it to improve
the method. But just after investing heavily in this new method, my camp was
destroyed and I lost everything. We don’t collaborate with the military in our
activities, they obstruct our operation. We are fishermen and God gave us this
technology; so government should see reason and support us; it is like our own
way of farming.
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