The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has uncovered 58 illegal refineries and 19 illegal pipeline connections in Niger Delta region from January 18 to 24, 2025.

It also stated that it recorded a total of 159 incidents of oil theft and discovered various illegal oil installations within the region, adding that 25 suspects were arrested resultantly.

It gave a breakdown of the 159 incidents in the Niger Delta region as: 72 in the Central Corridor, 41 in the Eastern corridor, 39 in the Deep Blue water and seven incidents were recorded in the Western corridor.

NNPC Ltd stated these in a video documentary on its official YouTube channel, which was seen by New Telegraph yesterday. It highlighted some of the major incidents of oil theft, adding that a major breach was reported on the Oando to NLNG Boni gas pipeline system in River State.

It also said there was vandal ism of a gas pipeline forced a shutdown which disrupted the gas supply to Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG. It added that it uncovered several instances of vandalism of crude oil pipelines and illegal connections to condensate pipelines in the Ikenzi and Oruma areas of Bayelsa State.

It said: “Similar breaches were discovered in Ugu, Edo State, Ipu South, Abia State, and at a wellhead in Buguma, River State. “Illegal refineries were also discovered in Bile, Boni, Oigu, Okoloma, Ayama, and Ward 7, Dema Abe, all in River State.” According to it, all illegal connections had been removed and repairs had been successfully carried out.

The documentary explained that various companies and stakeholders played prominent roles in the discoveries and the operations. They include: NNPC Ltd’s Command and Control Centre, Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Ltd, Shell Petroleum Development Company Ltd, Government Security Agencies; Maton Engineering Nigeria Ltd and Oando PLC.