Pipeline theft continues to be a global issue for pipeline operators. With inflation spiking in several countries around the world, causing a cost-of-living crisis, there's been a renewed interest from thieves in targeting pipelines for fuel theft. Approximately 133 bn USD worth of crude oil and refined products are stolen or adulterated annually.¹

Pipeline theft is common in countries such as Nigeria, Mexico, Iraq, Indonesia and Russia.² However, since 2010, there’s been a rise in theft activities globally including in Europe, where Belgium, Italy and the United Kingdom have been affected.

With theft activity on the rise worldwide, pipeline operators face ongoing threats to the pipeline network, such as an ever-expanding variety of illegal taps being used. While not common, metal spikes have been seen in Latin American and African territories, which presents a high risk of leakage. Clamps and welded tapping points remain the most common methods for pipeline theft and are associated with more sophisticated operations or drug cartels with significant resource at their disposal, which is another ongoing theft related challenge.

Oil theft is becoming increasingly associated with drug cartels. For example, in Costa Rica there are cartels whose operations are benefitting from pipeline theft.^3,4,5,6

Other theft related challenges include sophisticated techniques such as remotely operating valves, the slow opening and closing of theft valves, theft activity occurring at night, low flow rates and small pressure changes to avoid detection. To counteract the growing expertise of pipeline thieves’ techniques and technologies, theft detection hardware instrumentation that prioritizes high sensitivity, accurate theft location and quick response times has increasingly become a requirement.

Without dismissing the importance of accompanying software, improved algorithms and the human element of offline theft data analysis, this paper discusses the importance of hardware instrumentation in the face of ongoing pipeline theft related challenges globally.