"670 Boats Used": Military Busts 636 Illegal Refineries, Intercepts 21 Million Litres of Crude Oil

• Military personnel have destroyed lots of illegal refining sites and arrested many suspected oil thieves, especially in the Niger Delta area
• Specifically, troops of Operation Delta Safe carried out the successful raids in the last four months
• Legit.ng gathered that within the said period, security agents recovered about 21 million litres of crude oil, weapons and ammunition

Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9-year-experience covering politics and elections in Nigeria

FCT, Abuja - The military has in the last five months busted 636 illegal refining sites.

The military also intercepted 21.7 million litres of crude oil valued at N54 billion, The Punch reported on Thursday, December 21.

The newspaper said the figures were collated from press releases by the military on the activities of troops against oil thieves between August 3 and December 1.

Read also

Another country overtakes India as Nigeria’s crude oil buyer

The data analysis showed that no fewer than 610 suspected oil thieves were nabbed within the five months under review. Also, a total of 670 boats used to convey stolen crude oil and its products were impounded by the military.

Expert reacts

Reacting, a security expert, Oladele Fajana, urged the military not to relent, adding that the activities of oil thieves, particularly in Nigeria’s south-south geopolitical zone, had seriously impacted the economy of the country negatively.

He said:

“Their arrests and recoveries are quite impressive. They must do more because the activities of oil thieves are inimical to the nation’s economy.”

Nigeria loses $46 billion crude oil to theft

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Nigeria lost over 619.7 million barrels of crude oil valued at $46.16 billion in 10 years.

Read also

After Dangote, Nigeria’s oldest refinery begins operation, video shows workers jubilating

The information is from representatives of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), which recently revealed this at a forum.

Effect of oil production decline in Nigeria

Legit.ng also reported that oil production numbers showed that Nigeria lost almost N249 billion in crude oil revenue in July as a result of a decline in oil production of more than four million barrels in the same month.

The entire oil production of the nation fell to 33.5 million barrels in July from June's 37.5 million barrels, according to information acquired from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

Tompolo destroys vessel carrying stolen oil

In another related news, Legit.ng reported that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited intercepted a vessel conveying 800,000 litres with the support of Tantita Security Services, a private security contractor run by Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo.

This followed a previous arrest by the same team that saw the arrest and setting ablaze of an oil bunkering vessel intercepted with stolen crude oil in Escravos area of Delta State.

Source: Legit.ng