Navy uncovers 15 illegal oil refining sites with over 2.7m litre production capacity in Rivers

Men and officers of the Nigerian Navy have uncovered fifteen camps where illegal refining activities were ongoing on a large scale in Rivers State.

The operation, which is part of Operation Delta Sanity was led by personnel of the Nigerian Navy Ship(NNS) Pathfinder on Friday at the heart of a creek known as Bokokiri in Ke Community of Degema Council of the state.

Conducting journalists on the discovery operation, the Commander of NNS Pathfinder, Commodore Desmond Igbo, said each of the camps has up to Six cooking pots and Ovens that contain over 30 thousand litres of crude oil products.

According to him, the economic saboteurs clandestinely chose the location using a hose to tap the oil wellheads then syphoning the crude through pipes to a distance inside the creeks knowing that they can not be spotted easily.

He added that the onslaught on economic saboteurs was in accordance with the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla’s directives to ensure oil theft is brought to the barest minimum.

“This is where Nigeria derives its revenue but some unscrupulous citizens are engaged in this act of economic sabotage. This is not good for our country’s economy. The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla has mandated us to ensure that oil theft becomes a history in Nigeria.

“We are at an illegal bunkering site where the illegally refined petroleum products are being stolen from the pipes and wellheads tapped. This an act of stealing,” Igbo said.

He added; “here is Bokokiri in Ke community, Degema council of Rivers State. Here we have fifteen camps and each of the camps has not less than six cooking pots with each pot containing over 30 thousand litres of crude oil.

“The volume of operation in each camp is much, this means that we have 30 thousand litres for each pot, multiply that by six and then multiply by 15, which is 2.7 million litres of crude oil.”

Commodore Igbo, however, noted that apart from using the kinetic approach to dissuade oil thieves, his Base is using none kinetic approach, explaining that he had engaged community stakeholders and conducted sensation to educate community members on the implications of indulging in acts of economic sabotage.

He added that although no arrest of the runners of the camps yet, the Base had made arrests at different operations and had handed them to prosecuting agencies.