Gasoline theft
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Gasoline theft occurs when gasoline is stolen from a gas station, pipeline or vehicle.
Theft from vehicle tanks
The rate of fuel theft is accelerating as fuel prices climb, tempting more employees to steal fuel. [citation needed] Employees can either siphon fuel from fuel tanks or use special devices making it hard to detect that fuel would gradually be leaving the fuel tank. [citation needed] This employee-related crime is now costing the United States trucking industry $2.1 billion a year.[1]
Vehicle tracking systems are used by some companies to monitor cases of fuel theft and raise effectiveness of fleet usage.
Theft from filling stations
Gasoline theft (sometimes known colloquially as fill and fly, gas and dash, and drive-off) is the removal of gasoline from a station without payment. The thief will usually use some form of decoy to prevent nearby witnesses from noticing the lack of payment until they have left the station. Common decoys include pretending to press the wrong buttons after swiping the credit card, or having multiple people get gas at the same time with one paying for another person and the other running off with both cars.
With typical gas thefts costing station owners in the range of $50 per incident, many stores have fought back by installing better video equipment and requiring pre-payment.
Since the oil price increases after 2004, the surge in fuel theft has gone up,[citation needed] which has included license plate thefts (when gasoline is stolen in the case that the vehicle has the original tags, the vehicle tags will ID the registered owner).[citation needed]
Theft from pipelines
Oil and gasoline are stolen through illegal taps in petroleum pipelines. Billions of dollars worth of product are stolen annually. [citation needed] Targets are Petroleum industry in Nigeria, Nembe Creek Trunk Line, Ceyhan-Kırıkkale Oil Pipeline, Petroleum industry in Mexico.
Organized crime and local people are involved.[2]
Illegal taps have caused leaks and explosions, such as:
- 2006 Abule Egba pipeline explosion
- 2006 Atlas Creek pipeline explosion
- 2019 Tlahuelilpan pipeline explosion
See also
References
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