The Nigerian Navy has announced the dismantling of at least 71 illegal refining sites and the seizure of more than 400,000 litres of stolen crude oil across the Niger Delta in July 2025.

This was disclosed in Abuja on Friday by Commodore Ayiwuyor Adams-Aliu, Director of Naval Information, in the Navy’s monthly operational update. He said the intensified crackdown, carried out under Operation Delta Sanity, was aimed at curbing crude oil theft and other economic crimes within Nigeria’s maritime domain.

According to Adams-Aliu, the July operations uncovered and destroyed 120 dugout pits, illegal storage facilities, and an array of equipment used for refining stolen crude across Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, and Akwa Ibom States. The Navy’s efforts, he said, denied oil thieves access to approximately 411,400 litres of crude oil, 87,825 litres of illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), 72,000 litres of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK), and 21,900 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

Highlighting specific operations, Adams-Aliu said that on July 4, troops discovered and dismantled refining sites holding over 66,000 litres of suspected crude and 40,000 litres of AGO in Ogba, Egbema, and Ndoni, Rivers State. On July 14, joint operations in Akwa Ibom and Delta States intercepted smuggling attempts to Cameroon and uncovered underground reservoirs filled with stolen crude. Two major busts in Bayelsa’s Biseni community on July 22 and 23 led to the recovery of over 450,000 litres of crude oil.

The Navy also intercepted wooden boats used for smuggling PMS and other petroleum products, arresting six suspects. Adams-Aliu reaffirmed the Navy’s commitment under Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla to eliminate oil theft, enhance maritime security, and boost Nigeria’s oil production. He noted that these operations have helped push national crude output above 1.8 million barrels per day, as confirmed by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

A recent Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) report revealed that Nigeria lost 619.7 million barrels of crude oil, valued at N16.25 trillion, to theft between 2009 and 2020. However, losses have dropped from 36.69 million barrels in 2022 to 7.68 million barrels in 2023, attributed to better resource management and improved security measures.