Over 30 Illegal Oil Refinery Installations Were Destroyed By Airstrikes In Rivers - NAF

In the past two months, Safe in the Degema Local Government Area of Rivers has demolished more than 30 illegal oil refinery installations near Cawthome Channel and Bille.

Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, the NAF's director of public relations and information, announced this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

According to Gabkwet, the airstrikes intensified efforts to prevent oil thieves and owners of illegal oil refineries from hurting the environment by operating their facilities illegally and bursting pipes.

He said that on Friday, airstrikes near Cawthome Channel damaged four operational illicit refinery sites that had surface storage tanks and dug-out reservoirs believed to hold illegally refined goods.

He claims that similar airstrikes that destroyed three illegal oil refinery sites complete with storage tanks and reservoirs were also carried out at Bille on Saturday and in the early hours of Sunday.

"In one of the sites, a Cotonou boat suspected of syphoning crude oil from a flow station was engaged in several passes and destroyed. In the last two months, Cawthorne Channel and Bille have accounted for the majority of oil theft and illegal oil refining activities in Rivers State.

"Within this period, over 30 illegal oil refining sites in these two locations have been destroyed by the land, maritime, and air components of Operation Delta Safe.

"These efforts will be sustained in these locations and others until oil thieves and their accomplices desist from their illegal activities," the statement added.