Combating Petroleum Movable Assets Theft Through Supply Chain Management System

The Niger Delta land and swamp operators have endured severe hostility, theft, and asset vandalism over time. The offshore assets seem insulated from these incessant thefts due to difficulty accessing the facility and the compactness of the operations resulting in efficient security surveillance. However, this is not the case for land and swamp assets, usually with wide asset footprints resulting from traditional, supposedly easy, and low-cost development concepts. These conventional concepts resulted in wells drilled from multiple locations with multiple flowlines/pipelines crossing many communities and making efficient surveillance a near impossible activity. The attackers usually target movable assets like wellhead accessories, Christmas tree, and flowlines in low-activity areas, and the non-active wells/flowlines are good minimal risk candidates. This act increases the cost of operations and, in most cases, results in environmental pollution because the vandals do not take the necessary precautions as needed for environmentally safe operations. Interestingly, in most cases, these stolen assets find their way into the local market, where they are refurbished and resold to unsuspecting operators. To curb this menace, an opportunity exists for industry collaboration by applying an intelligent supply chain and asset inventory management system. This paper reviews the current asset protection techniques, evaluates the value at risk, and proposes innovative ways of combating theft using digital technology and intelligent asset management techniques.