Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, has uncovered yet another illicit crude oil pipeline in Delta State.
In Burutu Local Government Area, the pipeline was connected to the 48-inch Trans Forcados Export Trunkline.
Tompolo’s Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited was recently given a multi-billion naira pipeline protection contract by the federal government.
According to a source close to Tantita, the latest illicit pipeline discovered this week was hidden behind a military guard station.
The Forcados Export Terminal in the Ogulagha neighbourhood is less than a kilometre away.
The pipeline also connects to another abandoned pipeline within AGIP Petroleum Company Limited, which is now defunct.
The oil bunkerers were claimed to have used the abandoned AGIP infrastructure to transport crude to the sea for loading and transportation out of Nigeria.
The Forcados Trunkline can export around 400,000 barrels per day.
It is fed by the Forcados Oil Pipeline System, the Niger Delta’s second largest pipeline after the Bonny Oil Pipeline System.
Tompolo revealed last week that 58 illegal oil points had been located in Delta and Bayelsa states since the operation began.
The former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) also accused the Nigerian Army and Navy of aiding oil thieves.
