Navy busts 71 illegal refineries, seizes 411,000 litres of stolen crude

Nigerian Navy says its special forces deactivated no fewer than 70 illegal refinery sites and confiscated over 400,000 litres of stolen crude oil across the Niger Delta in July 2025 alone. This was announced in a monthly operational update issued on Friday. The navy said the intensified operations under the ‘Operation Delta Sanity’ were part of its effort to curb crude oil theft and other forms of economic sabotage within Nigeria’s maritime domain. According to the update, the crackdown led to the discovery and destruction of 120 dugout pits, illegal storage facilities, and various equipment used in the theft of crude oil and the illicit refining of oil across Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, and Akwa Ibom States. The navy said that it denied oil thieves access to approximately 411,400 litres of crude oil, 87,825 litres of illegally refined diesel, 72,000 litres of kerosene, and 21,900 litres of petrol.
Providing key highlights of the operation, the navy stated that on July 4, troops had discovered and deactivated illegal refining sites containing over 66,000 litres of suspected crude and 40,000 litres of refined diesel at Ogba, Egbema, and Ndoni in Rivers. It added that the operations conducted on July 14 led to multiple arrests and seizures in Akwa Ibom and Delta, involving attempts to smuggle crude oil to Cameroon and the uncovering of underground reservoirs containing thousands of litres of stolen crude oil. According to the navy, two large-scale illegal operations were dismantled on July 22 and 23 in the Biseni Community, Bayelsa, with over 450,000 liters of crude oil recovered. It said that its personnel also intercepted several wooden boats used for smuggling PMS and other petroleum products, and arrested six suspected smugglers. It stated that the navy’s operations had contributed to the recent milestone announced by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.