OIL FIELD SECURITY

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Oil field theft articles such as those below can be seen periodically in the news.  According to statistics, reported oil field theft in the U.S. approaches $1 Billion annually.  The RSS Solution is a cost effective state of the art system that will assist oil and pipeline companies in securing property and equipment and will make theft of oil and equipment extremely difficult.

Learn more about the RSS Solution for combating oil field theft.

July 1, 2009: ODESSA, Texas (AP) — Ten people have been arrested in the theft of about $2 million worth of oil and gas condensate from oil companies and producers in three West Texas counties.  The arrests yesterday came following a seven-month investigation by the Permian Basin Oilfield Theft Task Force of an oilfield theft ring operating in Midland, Ector and Andrews counties.  Six of the suspects were charged with federal wire fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy charges and four were arrested on state money laundering charges.  Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter said the suspects stole, in one month, about 8,000 barrels of oil from their companies, the Odessa American reported.  Officials said the operation was a partnership between a group of men who sold the stolen oil and gas to buyers who didn’t know of the theft.

February 10, 2010: OIL & GAS THEFT — The territory of the El Paso Division’s Midland Resident Agency encompasses one of the largest oil and natural gas production regions in the U.S. – the Permian Basin. In the last four years the region has suffered $85 million in losses from the theft of oilfield equipment and raw product.  A continually growing market exists for stolen equipment and product, much of which is transported out of Texas or to Mexico. To counter this threat, the El Paso Division formed a major theft task force known as the Permian Basin Oilfield Theft Task Force. Participating agencies include sheriff's deputies from three of the region’s most affected counties (Midland, Ector, and Andrews) and the Texas Rangers.

September, 2010: Officials Come Together in an Effort to Stop Oilfield Theft in West Texas — ALPINE - It's a problem that keeps adding up for the oil industry.  Every year, thieves are getting away with millions of dollars in oil and gas equipment, but now law enforcement agencies across West Texas are working out a battle plan.  As storm clouds rolled out of Alpine, law enforcement prepared for a storm brewing on the border.  Everyone, from Sheriff's Deputies to Border Patrol officers, attended the first Big Bend Oilfield Equipment and Interdiction workshop.  "Most interdiction officers are concentrating on stuff coming north out of Mexico and they're not really focused on stuff going south into Mexico," Lt. Kenny Ray with the Texas Rangers in Midland, said.  "We're just trying to give these officers awareness. So, they'll start having a mindset to look at that movement of oilfield equipment as possible criminal activity." From 2005 to 2007, nearly 80 million dollars worth of oil and gas equipment was stolen from West Texas. Many think the same groups responsible for drug and human trafficking are involved.  Here's what's happening, Mexican cartels are coming in and stealing wellheads and pipes so they have equipment when they go home and try to steal oil from Mexico. Then they turn around and sell that same oil below market price to American and other companies.  This is a big issue because everyone's affected.

July 3, 2008: MIDLAND, Texas (AFP) — The wide open oilfields of West Texas are ripe pickings for thieves these days.  Some drive up to one of the thousands of pump jacks that dot the countryside and siphon crude out of the storage tanks.  Some pull up to a drill site after the crews have gone for the night and haul away tools, pipes and equipment.  Others take kickbacks, file false invoices or just plain steal knowing their bosses are too busy riding the oil boom to keep a close eye on accounting.  It's gotten so bad that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is launching a joint task force to tackle oilfield theft next month.

Tulsa World July 14, 2009: Oil-Field Theft Tracked Down — It was happening all over East Texas.  Lease operators noticed a spike in thefts, sometimes in amounts so small it didn't amount to much. Such stealing is common in the energy industry. An investigator with Devon Energy Corp. pieced together reports from seven counties and recognized signs of a larger problem, officials said. He realized many of those lease sites used the same haulers to dispose of saltwater, a by-product of natural gas production. Such haulers are paid to vacuum saltwater out of storage tanks, but some allegedly used their access to well sites to steal condensate, another by-product also known as natural gasoline. It sells for about the same price as crude oil once it's processed.  "They got greedy," said Kent Chrisman, director for global security of Oklahoma City-base Devon.  The company teamed up with state and local authorities in Texas to shut down the theft ring. Seventeen people are facing felony charges, authorities announced July 14.  Chrisman said thieves sold the condensate for pennies on the dollar for 18 to 24 months, costing the industry about $4 million. He said there is no way to know if that loss can be recovered, even if restitution is ordered in the criminal cases that resulted from the investigation.  "Oil-field theft affects more than natural gas companies," Chrisman said.  "It also affects landowners, royalty owners and taxpayers."

May, 2008: To Catch an Oil Thief — Oil theft in Wilbarger and Hardeman Counties caught the attention of authorities; here's how investigators and prosecutors took down a theft ring that stole over a million dollars' worth of crude.  PB Oil Company, a small, unremarkable oil company in Vernon, was owned and operated by two oil field pumpers, Terry Smith and Willie Greening. The company had two assets, the Lowke lease and the J.N. Johnston lease, both located in Wilbarger County. The two leases had one thing in common: prior to being purchased by PB Oil Company, they had been shut-in wells that had produced no oil for the previous two years.  Remarkably (and suspiciously), after being acquired by PB Oil Company, these two tired old wells produced about $1.2 million dollars worth of oil between 2003 and 2007.  Not bad for a couple of wells purchased for salvage.

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