Policing the high seas – Financial Mail (registration)

This illicit oil is then merged with that of the legal stream of producers and is openly sold in the primary markets of Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Bryan Abell, the West African operations director for seaborne security firm Six Maritime, says the largest part of Nigerias oil black market consists of "organised criminal rackets backed by corrupt political elites ... [that have] brokered deals with the regions oil majors and security forces".

But small opportunistic gangs are in a better position to ride out the depressed oil price.

Lacking political patronage and links to corrupt oil industry officials, they "instead rely on criminal wit to crack oil pipelines, loot vessels and collect abduction ransoms. With negligible operating costs and no illicit bureaucracy or shareholders to answer to, these groups can more easily adapt to market forces and exploit additional revenue streams".

Osinowo believes there is a deficit of 58 offshore patrol vessels for the Gulf, but he says naval deterrents need to be backed by "targeted economic development on the coast".

Reuters noted in a report this month that a spike in crude oil theft in Brazil was precipitated by the worst recession on record; the same phenomenon has been reported in the US.

According to Osinowos study, Gulf maritime security would be improved by better intelligence on piracy and smuggling networks, and satellite and radar surveillance, as well as "recommended transit corridors" and "voluntary reporting areas" for legitimate shipping, which worked well off Somalia and confined countermeasures to narrower reaches of ocean.

As Europe is the primary destination for illegally caught fish, the European parliament voted in February to create a public register of its fleets fishing in foreign waters and to blacklist operators caught stealing.

This month, the EU endorsed an international ocean governance plan that promotes maritime security and sustainable fishing.

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Policing the high seas - Financial Mail (registration)