The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited reported the discovery of at least 72 illegal crude oil refining operations in the past week, as revealed in a video report.

These illegal refineries were found and dismantled in Rivers, Delta, and Abia states. On August 18, a vessel was intercepted by Operation Delta Safe operatives in the Southern Ijaw region of Bayelsa State, with 12 individuals on board.

The NNPC noted that the tugboat was seized while carrying stolen flow lines from Shell Petroleum Development Company, indicating that the culprits not only tampered with the pipelines to connect their own but also extracted oil from them.

The 12 suspects are currently in custody for further investigation. Additionally, 46 infractions related to vessel automatic identification systems were recorded at sea, and 24 wooden boats transporting stolen crude were seized in Rivers and Bayelsa States.

The state-owned energy company also reported the apprehension of several vehicles loaded with stolen crude on land in Delta, Rivers, and Bayelsa States.

Over the past week, authorities identified 33 illegal connections across three states.

During this timeframe, there were eight reported oil spills attributed to acts of vandalism, and 12 locations were discovered that were being used for the storage of stolen crude oil and illegally refined products. From August 17 to 23, a total of 204 oil theft incidents were documented by various sources.

Of these, 47 occurred in deep offshore waters, 10 in the western region, 100 in the central region, and 47 in the eastern region. In relation to these incidents, 42 individuals have been apprehended.