Bhupen Goswami
Guwahati: Despite drone surveillance, over 500 tonnes of crude oil per day is being stolen on a large scale in Assam. A senior official of Oil India Limited and ONGC has informed that people from the ruling political parties may be involved in this crude oil theft incident. Due to this incident of theft, the Petroleum Ministry is losing crores of rupees in Assam every day. Drone cameras were used after informing the flood flood government about the incident of theft of crude oil, but despite this drone, crude oil is being stolen every day in Assam, the official said.
The oil officer has said that this is proof that when the police stole 8 thousand liters of oil despite surveillance from the drone, 4 people have been arrested. At least four persons have been arrested for allegedly stealing 8,000 litres of oil in Assam’s Dibrugarh district, an oil official said. Due to the rise in incidents of oil theft, OIL had launched drone surveillance for its installations and oil and gas pipelines in Assam in October last year. Giving this information, a senior police officer said that the stolen oil is condensate oil. Condensate oil is a mixture of light liquid hydrocarbons and resembles very light crude oil. It occurs as a vapor in natural gas and can dissolve in crude oil or is found separately in oil reserves. Police seized a tanker near Bogibeel bridge on Brahmaputra river and recovered 8,000 litres of stolen condensate oil. The oil is suspected to have been stolen from a transport pipeline of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) or Oil India Ltd (OIL), the police officer said. “Four persons involved in the gang have been arrested.
