Navy Destroys 50 Illegal Refineries in Delta Creeks

As part of its continuous fight against crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta, the Nigerian Navy (NN) yesterday said over 50 illegal refineries have been destroyed in the past 32 days around Yeye, Burutu and Ibafa creeks in Delta State.

In the ongoing operation, of which select defense correspondents in Lagos and Abuja were embedded, personnel attached to the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) DELTA, also seized six ships- MT AYSU, MY INTERIM, MV MAMA ELIZABETH, MT MIRACLE, MV NIPAL and SD WATERMAN.

Also seized were 85 wooden boats used by criminal elements for alleged illegal bunkering of petroleum products siphoned from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipelines and crude oil well heads in six months.

At the different creeks where the defence correspondents were taken to by the Executive Officer, Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta, Captain Festus Adewuyi, a massive and well-coordinated operation of crude distillation processes were being carried out.

Despite continuous efforts by the navy to destroy such illegal refineries, more keeps sprouting especially at Benet Island, where over 50 of 10,000 litre metal tanks were found.

Already, the navy has identified over 900 illegal refinery camps within NNS DELTA’s area of operation (AOO) with the bulk of it located around Ughelli and Warri South.

According to the Commander, NNS DELTA, Commodore Ibrahim Dewu, several persons have been arrested for various maritime offences and handed over to prosecutorial agencies, while the vessels were being kept in trust for the agencies in line with the Harmonised Standard Operation Procedure (HSOP).