EMEA News
Nigeria Legalising Offshore Oil Product Sales
Nigeria will legalise the supply of oil products to vessels anchored offshore, Platts reports.
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) announced the move, intended to stop the theft of crude and petroleum products and increase oil revenues, on Wednesday.
"President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the issuance of licenses to bunkerers as part of his economic agenda," a DPR head George Osahon said in a statement.
"This will help create employment activities for Nigerians as well as act as a stimulus for growth in other sectors of the economy, including inland ports and waterways," he added.
The government banned bunkering in the 1980s after large-scale abuse of permits, but illegal supply of oil has continued since then, and thieves have since stolen crude and oil products from the nation's pipelines reported to be worth about $6 billion.
A Nigerian military force said it seized 46 vessels involved in illegal oil bunkering in 2013, and 81 barges, 1,117 cotonou boats, 82 tanker trucks, and 1,873 surface tanks were destroyed.
In May, two insurers formed a partnership to provide safeguards to commercial ship charters in Nigeria against liabilities including pollution from bunkers in an effort to support maritime industry development in the country.
