Nigeria’s Flagship Oil Company NNPC Reports Discovery and Destruction 55 illegal Refineries in One-week
In a video documentary on the official YouTube channel of the NNPCL, the company said it recorded a total of 179 incidents of oil theft in the south region of Nigeria.
The operations, which took place between January 11 to 17, 2025, led to the arrest of 30 suspects and the discovery of various illegal oil installations
It listed the the various companies and stakeholders involved in the joint efforts to eradicate crude oil theft to include NNPCL command and control centres, Shell Petroleum Development Company, Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited.
Others are Maton Engineering Nigeria Limited, OANDO Plc, Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas, Tantita Security Services as well as statutory government security agencies.
In a breakdown of the 179 incidents in the Niger Delta region, it was noted that five incidents were recorded in the Western corridor, 90 in the Central Corridor, 70 in the Eastern corridor, and 14 in the Deep Blue water.
The national oil company also made a list of hotspots of crude oil theft in the Niger Delta region to include Buguma Southeast, Bile, Okoloma, and Kaotan channel in Rivers state.l and Obuzor and Ukwa in Abia state
It also noted that crude oil theft is rampant in parts of Bayelsa state, where it intercepted some suspects and seized proceeds of the crime.
It also uncovered hidden storage sites used for illegal oil operations in areas such as Buguma Southeast, Okoloma, Obrikom, and Ayama in Rivers and Ozaukwu in Abia.
A condensate pipeline at Nwaduloke community of Rivers State and damaged wellhead in Buguma in Rivers were among incidents of oil spills reported.