The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has uncovered 165 illegal refineries across the Niger Delta region in the past week.

An NNPC documentary, recorded between June 15 and 21, revealed about 400 incidents of oil theft and vandalism reported by both government and private security agencies.

The documentary disclosed that 69 illegal connections were found and disconnected in Bayelsa and Rivers States. Additionally, eight cases of oil spills due to vandalism or illegal connections were reported across the region.

In Warri, Delta State, an illegal loading point was discovered. The NNPC also uncovered and dismantled 69 illegal refineries in several swamps in Okrika, Rivers State. The construction of an ‘oven’ for illegal crude oil refining was halted.

Similar illegal refining sites were found in various locations in Abia and Bayelsa States. The NNPC revealed that 19 illegal storage sites filled with stolen crude and illegally refined products were uncovered in Delta, Imo, Rivers, Abia, and Bayelsa States.

Furthermore, 11 vehicles were seized in Delta, Akwa-Ibom, and Bayelsa States, and 39 boats carrying stolen crude were confiscated in Rivers, Delta, and Bayelsa States. Eight people were arrested in connection with these incidents.

This crackdown comes amid declining crude oil production and Nigeria’s struggle to meet its OPEC quota of 1.5 million barrels. Recently, NNPC’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, emphasized the need to address insecurity in the oil and gas sector to boost production.

Kyari stated, “How do you increase oil production? Remove the security challenge we have in our onshore assets. As we all know, the security challenge is real. It is not just about theft; it is about the availability of the infrastructure to deliver the volume to the market. No one is going to put money into oil production when he knows the production will not get to the market. Within the last two years, we removed over 5,800 illegal connections from our pipelines. We took down over 6,000 illegal refineries. You simply cannot get people to put money until you solve that problem.”