Oil theft provides billions for terrorists and drug cartels, analysis suggests

Oil theft is fuelling terrorist groups and drug cartels around the world, according to a new analysis.

Mexican drug gangs can earn US$90,000 in seven minutes from tapping a pipeline of refined oil, while insurgents in Nigeria financially benefit from a share of the third of the country’s refined oil exports that is lost to theft, said the Atlantic Council.

The Washington DC-based think-tank, which mapped the scale of crime in the oil refining and processing end of the sector, said the issue had largely been ignored by authorities and law enforcement agencies so far.

“This has been an invisible issue for many years, people do not recognise downstream oil theft as a problem. It’s a multibillion-dollar thing that affects many people all over the world,” said Ian Ralby, the author of the analysis, a follow-up of a study published in January.

“These are global concerns because they affect the global economy, they affect global security and they affect global security,” he added.

The crimes take many forms, from straightforward theft from pipelines to smuggling to avoid taxes.