The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has said that the country recorded 40 incidents of crude oil theft between July 15 and July 21, 2023.

The company stated this on Tuesday via its official Twitter account.

According to the NNPCL, the war against crude oil theft is still raging across the Niger Delta region, specifically highlighting Rivers, Bayelsa, and Delta states, the company said that 93 illegal connections were found, and disconnections as well as repairs are ongoing.

The company also said that 69 illegal refineries were discovered and destroyed within the highlighted period.

Also, 27 cases of pipeline vandalism were discovered and are being fixed.

The collaboration between the NNPCL and security agencies also made it possible to arrest 30 wooden boats and trucks involved in transporting stolen crude, which were confiscated in the last week.

The report also identified 13 vessel AIS infractions, 5 oil spills, 2 illegal vessels and 1 document validation. 13 of the incidences were recorded in the Deep Blue Water, 41 were recorded in the Western region of the Niger Delta, 169 were recorded in the Central region and 17 occurred in the Eastern part of the oil-producing part of the Niger Delta region.

However, the company did not mention anything about the suspects found to be carrying out illegal activities using vessels, boats and other materials that were either destroyed or confiscated by the security agencies and the NNPCL.