The Nigerian Navy, NN, said, it has recovered N24bn worth of crude oil in its continued fight against oil theft in the last three months of the activities of OPERATION DAKATAR DA BARAWO, OPDDB.
Navy’s Director of Information, Commodore Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan disclosed this in a statement issued yesterday, 5 July, 2022.
TheFact Daily recalls that the Navy, within its first thirty days of operations, which began in the month of April, successfully denied oil thieves the sum of N10.7bn.
Following its success, the operations were extended for another thirty days. In the month of May, the NN recovered N6.3bn. OPDDB was therefore extended for another thirty days.
According to Ayo-Vaughan, the feat recorded by the Navy in the month of June was achieved through the various Areas Of Operations (AOOs) of OPDDB.
Collectively, between 1 and 13 June, the efforts of NNS PATHFINDER in Port Harcourt, NNS DELTA in Warri and NNS SOROH in Yenagoa, saw the deactivation of 13 Illegally Refining Sites (IRSs), 6 reservoirs, 84 ovens, 107 storage tanks and 21 storage pits.
Furthermore, 1,578,000 million litres of Automative Gas Oil, AGO, worth N1,293,960,000; 2,226,000 litres (14bbls) of stolen crude oil worth N697,569,600 was recovered, bringing the total sum within the period to N1,991,529,600.
Additionally, 2 trucks with sludge, 22 wooden boats, 3 fire boats, 4 tankers and 3 suspects were arrested.
Similarly, between 13 and 19 June, NNS PATHFINDER, NNS VICTORY, Forward Operating Base (FOB) BONNY at Rivers State, NNS DELTA, FOB ESCRAVOS at Delta State, OPERATION CALM WATERS (OCW) II, OPERATION TRI-PARTITE JOINT BOARDER PATROL (TJBP) and FOB IGBOKODA in Ondo State, collectively, recovered 2,305,000 litres of crude oil worth N594,335,343.36; 2,642,000 litres of AGO valued at N2,166,440,000, and 50,000 litres of DPK worth N28,250,000. Put together, these recoveries amount to N2,789,025,343.36.
In addition to this, 5 suspects were arrested, 14 IRSs and 80 storage tanks were deactivated, 22 wooden boats, 40 ovens and two speed boats were also arrested and handled appropriately. 1 truck, 1 tanker, 1 barge and 1 Toyota Sienna, make up vehicles that were arrested as well.
For the period 20 to 30 June, the collective efforts of NNS VICTORY at Calabar, NNS DELTA, in conjunction with Sector 1, Operation DELTA SAFE (OPDS), NNS SOROH, NNS PATHFINDER and NNS Jubilee, at Ikot Abasi, in conjunction with NSS 031, led to the handing over of 677 drums of illegally gotten Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, in Cross River State, as well as the recovery of 1,301,750 litres of AGO, valued at N1,067,435,000; 21,744 barrels of crude oil, valued at 1,083,555,705.60 ($2,609,280); 154,500 litres of Dual Purpose Kerosene, DPK, valued at 104,988,930, bringing the total amount recovered to 2,255,979,635.60.
Moreover, 14 IRSs were destroyed, 12 suspects arrested, 2 timber workers from Ogbia who had earlier been attacked, dispossessed of their sawing machines and abandoned in the bush by certain sea robbers, were rescued by NSS 028, under NNS SOROH, around Nembe axis.
Also, while 1 vessel, 16 boats and 4 vehicles were arrested, 88 ovens, 52 large pits and 119 storage tanks were destroyed.
Other items recovered include 1 outboard engine, 6 generators, 1 inverter, 14 welding machines, 21 pumping machines, 7 hoses and 1 filing machine. In June, therefore, OPDDB denied economic saboteurs the sum of N7,036,534,578.96.
In summary, OPDDB in 90 days recovered the following products:
21,698,562.59 litres of AGO,
36,707,420.16 litres of crude oil (230,882.73 barrels), 649,775.38 litres of DPK, 345,000.49 litres of PMS, 380,000 litres of Sludge and
66,000 litres of Low Pour Fuel Oil, LPFO.
These recoveries translate to N10.7bn in the month of April, N6.3bn in the month of May, and N7.0bn in the month of June, bringing the total amount recovered in 90 days to N24.0bn.
Ayo-Vaughan disclosed that the duration of OPDDB has been extended by 30 days.
