The military’s Joint Task Force, Operation Delta Safe (OPDS), has discovered 50 illegal refining sites in the Biseni forest, Yenagoa Local Government Area, Bayelsa State.
Led by Commander Rear Admiral John Okeke, the operation uncovered daily illegal refining of stolen crude oil. Okeke warned oil thieves to desist or relocate, stating: “On May 9, 2024, we were in Ukwa West LGA, Abua State, bordering Rivers State… Today, we are in Biseni, Yenagoa LGA, Bayelsa, with over 50 cooking sites… Why are thieves operating here so smart, connecting theft lines made of two-inch pipes, galvanized pipes connecting directly to supply oil lines on the road, from a distance of one kilometer?”
Okeke while describing the sophisticated arrangements said:
“They have funny connections, multiple connections where each thief gets their supply. From a large dugout open pit that can accommodate more than 10 trucks of AGO, holding crude oil, they distribute to their cooking site.”
While emphasizing the importance of intelligence, he stated:
“Look at the thick forest… you can never imagine such serious crime is going on here, if not for the good-spirited individual who volunteered information, we wouldn’t have known.”
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, lamented that Nigeria loses an estimated 300,000 barrels of crude oil daily to oil theft, pipeline vandalism, and criminality, resulting in annual revenue losses of N1.29 trillion.
