By Dayo Johnson, Akure
The Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base, FOB, Igbokoda, has destroyed five illegal refineries in Araromi seaside, Ilaje council area of Ondo State.
Commanding Officer, Forward Operating Base, Igbokoda, Navy Captain Wasuku Alushi, said this during a tour of the illegal refining sites.
Alushi said that the destroyed illegal refineries contained a total of 365,000 litres of crude oil.
Alushi said the move was in furtherance of the Nigerian Navy’s fight against crude oil theft and other related vices in the Niger Delta area, specifically in the Ilaje council area of the state.
“You will recall that a fortnight ago, the Chief of Naval Staff launched Operation Delta Sanity with the overall goal of intensifying the Nigerian Navy’s efforts to curb crude oil theft in the Niger Delta area to sanitise the environment.
“Operation Delta Sanity is basically to sanitizes the entire Niger Delta from the menace of crude oil thieves, illegal refiners, cultism, and other related activities. Part of that mandate is why we are here today to dismantle this illegal refining site and render it inactive.
“We are here today based on credible intelligence; you can see that this is an illegal refining site. We are dismantling this site to prevent them from carrying out their nefarious activities and also to enlighten the public about the activities of these economic saboteurs to the nation.
“Inside the refining field, there are five different illegal refining ovens. Each of the ovens has a 33,000-litre refining capacity as a major refining operation, including two other 10,000-litre refining units. This implies that each of the ovens has a refining capacity of 83,000 litres of crude oil per day.
“They transport the illegally refined crude into these tanks, where they apply local technology.
“The principles of fractional distillation are what they apply basically in their crude way, and then at the end of it, they come up with illegally refined HGO, which they further transport, perhaps back through the sea, to where the market is.
“There is a network of pipes here; you can see most of the pipes are buried under the ground; they are connected from here up to the high sea, where at night this locally constructed boat called the Cotonou boat comes to lift these products for onward delivery from where the markets are.
“We came with welders and other resource persons that will help us dismantle this well-orchestrated network of engineering here perpetrated by these criminal elements, so we are here to dismantle this site basically to make it ineffective.
He added, “We also came with about six cylinders today. You can see that the site is quite vast; this is just one. We have three of these sites, so it will take us about 2 or 3 days to achieve them.
“We came with about 6 cylinders; going forward, we may have to increase the number of cylinders that we come here with.
Credit: Vanguard Newspaper
