Rivers: Navy Begins Mop-up Of Illegal Refineries
Commander of NNS Pathfinder, Commodore Shuwa Mohammed, disclosed this to newsmen in Port Harcourt, shortly after an aerial and land surveillance of the newly discovered modular refineries in the state.
Mohammed, who was represented by the Pathfinder’s base operations officer, Commander Chidi Ejiofor, stated that the mop-up was aimed at ending the colossal damage done to the environment by activities of oil thieves who through acts of sabotage puncture pipelines to obtain crude oil illegally.
He said, “The mop-up ordered by the chief of naval staff, Vice-Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas, is part of a series of operations lined up to end incessant crude oil thefts and pipeline vandalism in the state.
“During our aerial surveillance recently, several new illegal refineries were sighted with their positions in Latitude and Longitude, prompting troops’ mobilisation.
“In the course of our operation today (Sunday), an illegal refinery with 15 storage metallic tanks loaded with 145,000 litres of stolen crude oil was set ablaze in Buguma, Asari Toru local government area of Rivers.”
The naval commander stated that more than 50,000 litres of illegally refined diesel stored in 10 cooking tanks were also destroyed, adding that a metallic dump which had capacity to store thousands of litres of petroleum products was also destroyed during the raid.
He said that operators of the illegal refinery who numbered well over 20 fled the scene on sighting advancing navy troops.
The NNS Pathfinder commander said, “Ironically, while setting the refinery ablaze, four out of the fleeing oil thieves came back and offered us a bribe of N600,000 to leave the refinery.
“The four suspects were subsequently arrested and would be handed over to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for investigation and prosecution,” he said.
He maintained that despite renewed efforts by the naval high command to stop oil theft, sensitisation is key to ending oil theft rather than destruction alone.
He pointed out that there are about 33,000 creeks in the Niger Delta, adding that out of these, NNS Pathfinder is saddled with responsibility for more than 1,000 of the creeks and waterways.
The commander said, “It is difficult to maintain 24 hours presence in all of these creeks and oil facilities especially having in mind the shallowness of some of the creeks which made it near impossible to patrol.
“So, sensitisation and government partnership with communities will greatly help to put a stop to attacks on oil and gas installations which not only affect everyone but also degrade the environment.
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