Nigeria’s military and security forces have dealt a significant blow to the country’s thriving illegal oil trade by dismantling 56 illegal bunkering sites in a sweeping crackdown aimed at curbing crude oil theft and pipeline sabotage.
Despite being Africa’s largest oil producer, Nigeria has long battled widespread oil theft, which has severely impacted its output, export revenues, and overall economic stability. These challenges pose an ongoing dilemma for President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
In the latest operation, security forces seized 88 cooking drums, recovered 1.2 million liters (317,000 gallons) of stolen crude oil, and destroyed at least 15 illegal refining sites in the Okorodia forest of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Thousands of liters of stolen crude oil and illegally refined diesel fuel were also confiscated. Seventeen suspects were arrested, and several vehicles and refining equipment were impounded.
According to the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Nigeria lost an estimated 620 million barrels of crude oil—valued at $46 billion—between 2009 and 2020. While oil theft is not a new issue, the scale and sophistication of these illegal operations have grown significantly in recent years, particularly in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
Financial consultant Umaru Ahmadu highlighted that oil theft will persist unless the government addresses long-standing social and economic injustices in the region. “The local communities lack infrastructure, basic amenities, and social safety nets. Their environment has been destroyed, and their livelihoods have been stripped away,” Ahmadu stated.
He emphasized that without tangible investments in the well-being of oil-producing communities, sabotage and illegal refining will continue. “As long as these injustices persist, people will resort to self-help through illegal refining and crude oil theft,” Ahmadu added.
Addressing the root causes of poverty, environmental degradation, and infrastructural neglect in the Niger Delta remains key to ending crude oil theft and ensuring sustainable development in Nigeria’s oil-producing regions.
