Navy busts illegal refinery sites in Rivers

The Nigerian Navy has disrupted attempts to establish illegal refining infrastructure and recovered a large cache of suspected illegally refined petroleum products in separate operations across Rivers. This is contained in a public address on Tuesday in Abuja by the Director of Naval Information, Navy Capt. Abiodun Folorunsho. Folorunsho indicated the operations were conducted under Operation Delta Sentinel, as part of ongoing efforts to curb crude oil theft and economic sabotage in the Niger Delta.

He showed that personnel of Forward Operating Base Bonny, following credible intelligence on suspicious activities, foiled attempts by economic saboteurs to set up illegal refining sites in the Promise Land area of Bonny Local Government Area. based on him, an anti-crude oil theft patrol team carried out a coordinated reconnaissance mission across adjoining creeks and waterways, supported by aerial surveillance.

”The surveillance exposed concealed refining equipment hidden under thick vegetation, while ground assessment confirmed two newly constructed illegal refining sites close to the river channel. ”The sites also contained improvised cooking installations, interconnected pipe networks and other support infrastructure intended for processing and transporting illegally refined petroleum products. ”.

That the operators were still in the early stages of establishing the camps, indicating plans to create a new refining hub before full-scale operations. He showed the sites were subsequently dismantled in line with operational procedures, while the area had been placed under continued monitoring. Folorunsho indicated that in a related development, personnel of Nigerian Navy Ship Soroh discovered a concealed fuel stockpile along the Rivers–Bayelsa border corridor.