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The Federal Government has taken the fight against crude oil bunkering to its foreign counterparts in Europe and other parts of the world due to its inability to arrest the menace domestically.

Speaking at the ongoing biggest oil and gas conference in Abuja, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, told the Nigerian Tribune on the sideline after delivering her speech that the Federal Government had realised that those behind oil bunkering in Nigeria have international backers.

She said they neither sell the stolen crude to West African countries nor use West African financial systems to conduct transactions.

According to her, “our investigations revealed that they do not patronise West  African markets neither do they use West African banks. They are highly connected.
That is why we engage foreign governments to assist in freezing their accounts.”.

When asked to give the names of governments they are partnering and those of the suspects if any, she simply said: “ We cannot mention the names of the countries or governments now because it is a security issue. The president has been talking to his colleagues all over the world on how they can assist us in freezing their accounts. He met with British Prime Minister (David Cameron) last week on this issue and he has pledged to support us fully in dealing with this menace.”

It will be recalled that crude oil theft has resulted into loss of several billions of dollars in the past few years. The minister said over $7 billion was lost to this menace in 2012 alone, and if not checked, the figure might continue to rise.