Vice Adm. Emmanuel Ogalla, the Chief of the Naval Staff, has attributed the increase in oil production in the past six months to the good job done by his officers and men in oil-producing areas.

Mr Ogalla said this on Tuesday when he paid a familiarisation visit to officers and naval ratings in the Central Naval Command, Yenagoa.

He said oil production, which was 700,000 barrels per day, increased to 1.7 million barrels daily after his troops took over security duties in the areas.

Mr Ogalla, who visited the Joint Task Force Operation Delta Safe, the Bayelsa governor and the Central Naval Command, said, “When we started in 2023, precisely around June, we went to all the naval formations, assessed the situation and looked at what was the problem at that time the nation’s oil production was about 700,000 barrel per day.

“We needed to raise our game, and we became more intelligent-driven, in the sense that we made sure we involved the community and other agencies to get information. In doing so, many things were put in place. We impounded many vessels operating illegally, particularly on oil theft.”

He added, “We demobilised these vessels and these criminals started seeing their ventures as very costly and the likelihood of them being caught is always there. That is why they have been curtailing their activities in the last six months, resulting in an increase in oil production.”

“This is what we have been doing and we are going to do more to increase our strategies. Why we are here today is to look at some of the areas we have to work on so that in 2024. We tend to increase oil-production capacity by another 50 per cent.”

(NAN)