The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Wednesday pledged to work together to enhance Chad Basin oil exploration activities.
The agreement is contained in a statement issued by Ohi Alegbe, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, in Abuja.
The statement said the two agencies reached the agreement when the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr Joseph Dawha, visited the Chief of Air Staff (COAS), Air Marshal Adesola Amosu.
They also pledged to work together to curb crude oil theft in the creeks of the Niger Delta region.
It quoted Dawha as saying that 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 NAF had provided invaluable services to the Oil and Gas Industry through the Joint Task Force, called `’Operation Pulo Shield”.
He commended NAF for its support to the industry from the 81 Air Maritime Group in Benin and 97 Special Operations Group in Port Harcourt.
Dawha said the support had 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 had become a major challenge requiring continuous collaboration and intervention by the Government Security Agencies.
The COAS in his response expressed the readiness of the NAF to collaborate with NNPC to check the incidence of crude oil theft in the creeks of the Niger Delta.
Amosu said that the Air Force had a crew of robust and capable men who were ready to contain the tide of insurgency in the Northeast which covers the zone of Chad Basin exploratory activities.
He said the force also had capacity to tackle the crude oil thieves in the creeks of the Niger Delta.
The Air Force chief said that with the rapid response aerial surveillance platform of NAF, “the days of indiscriminate crude oil and products theft are over.”
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