Pipeline theft is a global issue with each region being impacted differently due to their specific social, economic, legal and political challenges.

This paper focuses on Asia, a region where economic factors such as fluctuating oil prices and high demand for diesel and gasoline intersect with risks like fuel theft.

Common and emerging Asian theft techniques will be discussed, such as criminals’ manipulation of their surroundings and our regular identification of theft activities in the camouflage of the jungle that use foliage to hide any illegal tapping points.

Theft activity on subsea pipelines is also an emerging problem. An example of this will be discussed to show how it impacted a jet fuel tanker unloading pipeline.

It’s common for organized crime groups to smuggle fuel in some areas of Asia such as Thailand. This will be discussed with reference to typical approaches taken, for example the use of fake fishing boats and documents so thieves can create the appearance of legitimate operations.

Similar to parts of Latin America, use of tunnels will be discussed as an emerging theft technique in Asia, with examples of criminals digging underground tunnels in India.

In the context of pipeline applications, one size does not fit all pipelines. This paper makes the case that region specific challenges require region specific solutions. With that in mind, the most suitable solutions will be matched to the above theft challenges. There will be a focus on real time leak and theft monitoring which uses hardware and software that can be complemented with offline data analysis by trained engineers to enhance theft detection capability.

For jungle and subsea thefts, case studies will also be provided to demonstrate the success of theft detection solutions against these challenges.