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

The 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 stated 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 noted 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.
(NAN)
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette

Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Heading 2
Kano empowers 1,900 butchers, to establish cottage industry hubs
He said the government had already made provision for the establishment of the hubs in the 2026 budget.Â

Heading 3
2027 Elections: Police commence recovery of illegal arms nationwide
Mr Kokumo said the centre had destroyed more than 16,000 unserviceable weapons since its inception.

Heading 5
Court restrains FRSC from operating on Kano township roads
Mr Hikima sued the commission for unnecessarily stopping, searching and questioning him and other motorists.Â

Heading 5
White House teleprompter operator rakes in over $100,000 betting on Trump’s speeches: Report
Investigators discovered Mr Perez placed bets on more than a dozen of Mr Trump’s speeches over a three-month period.Â

Hot news Home top
Kidnapped Kogi school principal, NECO official, students regain freedom
Gunmen, on Tuesday, abducted a principal, NECO official and students during exam in Kogi school.






