Copper theft has become a growing concern for oil companies in the United States, mirroring the challenges faced by their counterparts in Nigeria. Keit Russel, Technical Sales Manager at Baker Hughes, stated this in a chat with NewsNGR at the 2024 SPE Artificial Lift Conference and Exhibition in Texas, United States.
Russel explained that the common use of copper in surface equipment for artificial lift systems makes them attractive targets for thieves.
When asked if America experiences vandalism of oil installations similar to Nigeria, Russel confirmed, “We have some problems with vandalism also. For instance, the surface equipment for Artificial Lift has a lot of copper in it. So people will steal the surface equipment for the value of the copper, and we have problems with that here too.”
To address this issue, companies are taking various measures, including constructing cages around equipment and bolting them to the ground to deter theft.
“More and more systems are now built in cages and bolted to the ground to make theft difficult, but that would be tough,” he said.
Drawing from his experience with projects in Nigeria, Russel suggested a two-pronged approach to preventing vandalism of oil installations.
“We had a project years ago in Nigeria, where we budgeted to have full-time security there,” he said.
“We also had a programme with the local communities to try and stop such from happening.”
He further stressed the importance of community engagement, stating, “We felt by employing people to secure installations, you would be contributing towards their development.”
However, Russel acknowledged that these measures alone may not be sufficient.
While the United States faces its own challenges with copper theft, the issue is particularly acute in Nigeria, where pipeline vandalism has resulted in significant economic losses.
According to the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the country lost an estimated N16.25 trillion ($46.16 billion) worth of crude oil between 2009 and 2020 due to these activities.
“The NEITI report also showed that in the last five years (2017 -2021), Nigeria recorded about 7,143 cases of pipeline breakages and deliberate vandalism, resulting in crude oil theft and petroleum product losses of 208.639mn barrels valued at $12.74 million or N4.325 trillion.
“During the same period, Nigeria spent N471.49 bn, either to repair or maintain the sabotaged or vandalized pipelines,” NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, had said at the time.
Elsewhere in the interview, Russel identified beam pumps, also known as rod lifts, as the most common type of Artificial System in the U.S.
“By volume, the beam pump is the most common method of artificial lift. You must have seen them on the side of the road. They go up and down,” he explained. “Even in North America, there are like 500,000 of those.”
Other popular methods, including Electrical Submersible Pumps (ESPs) and Gas Lift, are applied in various global contexts including offshore operations in Nigeria.