Illegal refineries have continued to spring up in most of the oil-producing states in the country despite crackdowns by security operatives, Daily Trust reports.
Reports of the destruction of illegal refining sites and arrests of suspects by the army, navy, air force and other security agencies are in the news almost on a daily basis.
Also, findings by the Daily Trust revealed that the cases of vandalism of pipelines occasioned by crude theft have continued unabated in the Niger-Delta region.
Industry players believe that the situation inflicts negative impact on the country’s oil production and export, the inflow of forex, the environment and the various communities’ livelihoods.
In 2023, the Organisation of Oil Producing Countries (OPEC) reduced Nigeria’s quota from around 1.8 mb/d to 1.5 mb/d due to the activities of vandals.
However, government officials said considering that some measures are being enforced, there is gradual improvement in oil production.
Reports indicate that in November 2024, Nigeria came short of achieving the quota, with data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) showing that the country produced 1.485 mbpd, about 99 per cent of the OPEC output quota.
It was, on the average, Nigeria’s highest volume of crude oil, excluding condensates drilled last year.
In January 2025, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, listed some of the achievements of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration in the oil sector, stressing that under the current government, crude output has been raised from 1 mbpd to 1.8 mbpd, including condensates.
However, despite the recorded successes, experts believe that Nigeria has the potential to record more than the current figures.
Specifically, no fewer than 215 illegal refining sites were destroyed by troops within four months in 2024 – a development that has been described as “worrisome”.
Data gathered and analysed by this newspaper showed that between August and December 2024, at least 1,341,980 litres of stolen crude were recovered from oil thieves.
The nine oil-producing states where the destruction of illegal sites occurred were Imo, Abia, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa-Ibom, Edo and Ondo.
They are located in the South East, South South and South West regions of the country, respectively.
Our correspondent reports that due to persistent oil bunkering in the region, the military high command led by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, had launched different operations to tame the menace.
Some of the military operations, which are jointly being carried out by the army, navy and the air force in the Niger Delta include Operation Delta Safe and Operation Delta Sanity among others.
In the same vein, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, had at different meetings maintained they have scaled up operations to put an end to vandalisation of pipelines among other criminal activities carried by oil thieves.
This, he said, had led to the recovery of a total of 8.1 million barrels of stolen crude oil and 86,500MT of illegally refined AGO, by operatives of the Nigerian Navy during various operations in the last four years.
Specifically, to scale up anti-oil theft operations, Minister Heineken had on Monday, December 30, 2024, flagged off Operation DELTA SANITY II at the Nigerian Navy Ship PATHFINDER, in Port Harcourt Rivers State.
It would be recalled that Operation DELTA SANITY I was launched in January 2024 by the naval chief as a major anti-crude oil theft operation with the deployment of personnel, patrol boats, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles (also known as drones).
The breakdown of the data analysed by our reporter showed that 23 illegal refining sites were destroyed on August 14, 2024 by troops at Imo River and four others at Degema region near Port Harcourt in Rivers State.
In the following month, September 23 precisely, 5,000 litres of stolen crude were recovered at Odagba Village near Imo River, Rivers State with no destruction.
Not less than three sites were destroyed in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni/Okrika area of Rivers State; one in Ika Local Government Area of Delta State and another three sites on the same day.
On October 6, seven sites were destroyed by the troops at Sankri in Okrika LGA and Dapama in Bille, both in Rivers State while 34 sites were destroyed in an undisclosed location in Delta on October 27.
On November 17, at least 46 sites were destroyed by the personnel of the Nigerian Navy along Oando Pipeline in Ebocha, Ogba/Egbema, Ndoni Local Government Areas of Rivers State.
A week later, troops swooped on oil thieves at Buguma Creeks in Asari-Toru, also in Rivers, and destroyed eight sites while six others were bombed at Iyalama/Bakama, Ogaji-ama in Buguma South East River, Clough Creek in Ekremor and Asaramatoro Creek in Bonny, all in Bayelsa State.
The data further showed that from the beginning of December alone, 37 sites were destroyed mostly in Bayelsa State, while 30 other sites were destroyed on December 15.
The trajectory has continued this year as the 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, said its troops have destroyed 13 illegal bunkering sites, destroyed over 150 locally made ovens, four boats and recovered over 300,000 litres of stolen products.
Lt-Col. Danjuma Jonah, the Division’s Deputy Director of Public Relations, said the operations were conducted closely with other sister services from January 20 to 26, 2025.
Despite ongoing operations, sources familiar with the development said a number of the perpetrators of the criminal activities have always devised means of escape.
Sources and some retired personnel who confided in our correspondent said the ringleaders of the crude oil thieves would always walk free because they are aided by powerful individuals.
“It is a known fact that those arrested for oil bunkering are not the real perpetrators of the crime. They are just the ‘boys’ looking for what to eat,” one of the sources said.
He continued, “Setting up an illegal refinery requires you to have some funding and expertise. In this regard, those suspects arrested couldn’t have been at the disposal of such funding even if they had the technical know-how.
“It is a business; but not a business for the poor. There are many rich people in this country that are involved.”
Also in an interview with our correspondent, a retired naval personnel, Abiodun Durowaiye-Herberts, described oil bunkering as a “cancer”.
According to him, there is no way anybody can establish an illegal refining site without the collaboration of powerful forces.
“It is unfortunate but that is the truth of the matter. That is why the government must do everything possible to ensure that the remuneration of those saddled with the responsibility of protecting oil installations remains top priority.
“The way those who have retired from the military are being treated is not going to encourage those who are in active service.
“If they look back and see the way we are being treated, of course, it will dampen their enthusiasm to serve because what will be at the back of their minds is to do anything possible to get something that they will fall back on when they retire.
“This is because they know that they will be abandoned the way we have been abandoned when they retire,” Durowaiye-Herberts told Daily Trust during an interview.
He also faulted the continuous destruction of the sites over the negative effects it has on the immediate environment.
When contacted, the spokesman of the Nigerian Navy, Commodore Aiwuyor Adams-aliu, told Daily Trust that prosecution of arrested suspects was ongoing in different states.
He, however, clarified that the navy usually hands over suspects to security agencies like the police, DSS, EFCC, NDLEA, and others depending on the peculiarities of the cases, because the navy does not have prosecutorial powers.
“All the suspects arrested are undergoing trial in different states. The important thing is that, the Nigerian Navy is not a prosecuting agency, we don’t prosecute.
“When we arrest them, we hand them over. It is not a one handover. You will do it today, tomorrow, next tomorrow and so on. You need to follow each case to find out.
“Some of them (suspects) may be with the Nigeria police, EFCC, and if it is cannabis you arrest them with, some of them will be handed over to the NDLEA.
“If it is something that has to do with national security, the suspect may be with the DSS. The peculiarity of each case determines the agency that will prosecute. We have never prosecuted anybody; we only make arrests.
“When mentioning so many arrests, they are in different stages of prosecution. That is the answer,” he said.
However, when approached on the status of the prosecution of suspects handed over to them, the spokesman of the Nigeria Police Force, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, asked our correspondent to find out from states of jurisdiction.