Chinese multinational technology firm, Huawei Technologies, has revealed that it had developed an intelligent pipeline monitoring system to help tackle crude oil theft in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by the Director of Huawei Nigeria Enterprise Business, Mr Li Wei, at a news briefing on the sidelines of the ongoing Nigerian International Energy Summit (NIES) on Tuesday in Abuja, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
What the Huawei top official is saying
Wei said that Huawei will continue to support the digital transformation of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector through the development of information and communications technology (ICT) solutions
He said: “Huawei-developed fibre vibration intrusion warning system uses Artificial Intelligence to identify intrusion scenarios accurately.
“With high identification precision, accurate positioning, and quick response, it will help to ensure pipeline safety and reduce theft and vandalism.
“Faced with the ongoing volatility of international oil prices, Huawei believes that the digital transformation of Nigeria’s upstream sector is a top priority.
“In response to the strategy proposed by the Nigerian government and oil companies, Huawei promotes the digital oilfield Internet of Things and Exploration and Production storage solutions.
“This will help oil and gas companies to achieve real-time visualised production, improve production efficiency, reduce production costs, and optimise production resource allocation to improve oilfield production.’’
Wei said Huawei will be providing high-quality ICT solutions and services, as well as actively support the Nigerian government in building a talent ecosystem.
He said the company had signed ICT academy agreement with over 110 universities and schools and had trained more than 1,000 civil servants and 40,000 young students in Nigeria.
He added, “We hope to build a strong talent base camp to promote Nigeria’s digital economy development.’’
What you should know
- This development is coming at a time of reports of increasing cases of oil theft in Nigeria with resultant revenue losses to the country.
- There have been repeated calls for oil theft to be stopped as Nigeria is reported to lose about 200,000 barrels per day.
- The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), in its audit report made public in July 2021, indicated that in 2019, Nigeria lost 42.25 million barrels of crude oil to oil theft, then valued at $2.77 billion, an improvement on the 53.28 million barrels stolen in 2018.
- Also, in 2021, 193 million barrels of crude vanished from Nigeria’s resources. The value of stolen crude in Nigeria is enough to fix many of the country’s problems and reduce the obsession with borrowing.
