Nigeria Navy Destroys 260 Illegal Oil Refineries

The Nigerian Navy said it has destroyed 260 illegal oil refineries and burned 100,000 tons of contraband fuel, but critics say this targeting of small-time criminals fails to confront the biggest culprits in oil thefts; the politically-connected criminal cartels who sell on the international market.

Similar missions in the past have failed to slow thefts valued at more than $20 million a day on the world market. Shell Nigeria, the biggest operator in the West African nation, said it lost $1 billion to oil thefts in 2013.

On Sunday, Shell confirmed that an under-sea pipeline leak has forced the closure of its Forcados export terminal, a major installation with capacity to handle 400,000 barrels of crude a day. Spokesman Precious Okolobo said the terminal was closed March 4 and the cause of the leak still is being investigated.

On Friday night, the commanding officer of the NNS Delta, Capt. Musa Gemu, said sailors destroyed about 260 refineries in the Warri area of the southern Niger Delta. He said they also arrested five suspects.

Director Patrick Dele Cole of Stop The Theft, an advocacy group, estimates thefts at 250,000 barrels a day, more than a tenth of the country's daily production of 2.2 million barrels.

He has told the AP that the thefts will not end until authorities address the fact that profits benefit the same generals and politicians who are ordering the raids on small illegal refineries.



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