A destroyed refinery By Favour Ifeoluwa & Akinola Ajibade The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited( NNPCL) says it has destroyed 134 illegal refineries in the last few weeks. Also, the company said 63 illegal pipeline connections were uncovered during the the weeks . The corporation, In a visual report, stated that at about 2 am on Sunday, a joint team of security agents discovered a large wooden boat illicitly loading stolen crude oil from Barge AGS01 within the OML 18 operating area, noted intelligence report a large wooden wooden boat was caught receiving crude oil from the barge. According to the state-owned oil firm, while the barge was towed away with a tugboat in custody, five speedboats used in towing the large wooden boat to the illegal loading site were also detained and the particulars of the tugboats and barge used for the operation were reportedly seized for further investigation. It further said that two large boats, which involve
Equitorial Guinea: Ship alledgedly used in ferrying crude oil
By Akinola Ajibade
Nigeria's campaign against crude oil thefts is yet to achieve its goal of nipping the unwholesome practices in the bud, as its citizens woke up, last week to receive the news of a carrier arrested and detained in Equitorial Guinea, another country in Africa.
Known as Heroic Idun, the ship, was suspected to be carrying crude alledgedly stolen from Nigeria, when it was arrested and subsequently detained by the Navy in Guinea. This was after the vessel got into a dispute with Nigerian authorities.
Of note, was the allegations that the 300,000 dead weight tonnage carrier entered Guineanan water without permission, as it tried to evade the Nigerian forces.
Confirming its detention, the Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Nguema, said that the ship is anchored in the country's water, while at the same, conducting investigations on it.
He made the confirmation through his twitter handle.
“Equatorial Guinea is still investigating the tanker detained last week in Annobon following a tip-off from Nigeria. So far, the tanker has incurred two serious offences; first, entering our waters without prior authorisation and second, navigating without an identifying flag,” Nguema wrote.
The local media reported that Heroic Idun, registered in the Marshall Islands, was seen near the AKPO oil field, off the Nigerian coast, on August 7.
The Nigerian Navy’s Maritime Domain Awareness facility was the first to detect the vessel and flagged it for suspicious activity.
After the tanker departing an offshore field in Nigeria, the Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Gongola tried to establish communication with its crew to question them on their activity and inspect ship’s papers.
The tanker reportedly resisted the contact and at one point issued a warning of an attempted boarding that was recorded by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), which was later believed to be a false alarm.
When the vessel was ordered by NNS Gongola to proceed to Bonny Fairway for further interrogation, it instead increased its speed and changed its direction toward Sao Tome and Principe.
The Nigerian forces requested the assistance of neighbouring Equatorial Guinea in the pursuit of the crude oil tanker, which was eventually arrested on the afternoon of August 12 and ordered to sail to Equatorial Guinea.
Recall that Nigeria, according to its Minister of Petroleum Resources, Timpreye Sylva loses more than 400,000 barrels of crude oil and $40million respectively daily.
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