The Nigerian Navy has intensified its crackdown on crude oil theft and illegal bunkering, destroying a reactivated illegal refinery site in Rivers State and intercepting suspected stolen petroleum products in Calabar, Cross River State.
The Director of Naval Information, Capt. Abiodun Folorunsho, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
Folorunsho said personnel of the Nigerian Navy Ship SOROH, operating under Operation DELTA SENTINEL, destroyed a reactivated illegal refinery site at Okolomade Community in Abua-Odual Local Government Area of Rivers State.
He said the action followed credible intelligence that a previously dismantled illegal refining site had resumed operations.
According to him, an Anti\u2013Crude Oil Theft (Anti-COT) team deployed to the location discovered that the dismantled refining oven had been reconstructed.
\u201cFurther exploitation of the area led to the discovery of additional refining equipment and storage facilities containing about 3,000 litres of product suspected to be illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil, AGO,\u201d he said.
Folorunsho added that the illegal refining infrastructure\u2014including ovens, storage tanks, hoses, connected pipes and newly acquired metal components used for illegal refining\u2014was destroyed in line with operational procedures.
He said personnel of the Nigerian Navy Ship Victory, in another operation, intercepted about 3,950 litres of suspected stolen petroleum products at the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, area in Calabar, Cross River.
He said the interception was based on credible intelligence on suspected siphoning of petroleum products from vessels berthed at the port.
The naval patrol team, according to him, swiftly deployed to the area and traced the illegally siphoned products to a trailer park within the port facility.
\u201cOn sighting the naval patrol team, the suspected perpetrators fled the scene, after which the area was cordoned off and the illegally siphoned products secured,\u201d he said.
Folorunsho said further inspection led to the recovery of about 3,950 litres of Automotive Gas Oil stored in drums and jerrycans, which had been evacuated to the naval base for further necessary action in line with extant regulations.
He noted that the successes aligned with the directive of the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Adm. Idi Abbas, to intensify operations against crude oil theft and other maritime crimes across Nigeria\u2019s maritime domain.
Folorunsho reiterated the Navy\u2019s commitment to sustaining the operational tempo of Operation DELTA SENTINEL through intensified surveillance, patrols and intelligence-driven operations aimed at combating crude oil theft, illegal bunkering and other forms of economic sabotage.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Nigerian Navy has intensified its crackdown on crude oil theft and illegal bunkering, destroying a reactivated illegal refinery site in Rivers State and intercepting suspected stolen petroleum products in Calabar, Cross River State. The Director of Naval Information, Capt. Abiodun Folorunsho, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja. Folorunsho said personnel of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n