The 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, Rivers State says it has uncovered 14 reservoirs stocked with about 3 million litres of crude oil in Odagwa Etche, Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The army also said 49 boilers used in refining stolen crude oil were discovered.
The General Officer Commanding, 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Jamal Abdussalam, conducted journalists round the reservoirs located in a thick forest.
Major General Abdusalam said through credible intelligence, officers of the Division were able to discover the14 reservoirs containing over 200,000 litres of crude oil inside the forest.
He said that the operators of the illegal reservoirs had about 49 crude oil boilers where they refined crude and moved it out through various channels.
He revealed that the suspects constructed various tanks and used hoses and cables to connect crude oil from abandoned well heads located within the area.
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He said, “The idea of bringing you here is to let Nigerians know exactly what is happening. You can see that this place is in a deep forest. Even if you are using a helicopter and military drones, you will not be able to see what we actually saw here on the ground. We discovered this based on credible intelligence which led us to this location.
“We have discovered so many illegal activities. As you can see, we have seen reservoirs that can contain upward of 200,000 litres of crude oil. We have discovered about 14 of them in this bush. We have also discovered boilers capable of processing crude oil; about 49 of them, all located inside this bush and we have seen the network of hose and cables connected around the whole area.
“The crude oil we have discovered in this place is in the excess of the daily crude oil export of Nigeria. This is very pathetic and very sad to note. Here we discovered 14 reservoirs and each reservoirs stored minimum of 200,000 litres of crude oil. So simple mathmatics will give you in excess of 3 million litres of crude oil that is stored. We are not talking of the ones that have been processed and taken out. These are the ones that we have discovered.”
The commanding officer said some arrests had been made, noting that those arrested “are not the major players in this business they are just carriers of the stolen oil.”
“This discovery is part of our efforts to ensure that government get what is due to it. The budget has been…passed into law and the executive have also accented to it. That budget were planned based on some parameters. One of the parameters is the crude oil production we chun out every day. So any drop in that crude oil production affects everybody in this country. Our people are not aware of that and that is why they are involved in this type of business.”
He warned those involved in illegal crude oil business to repent and embrace legitimate business that will earn them legitimate earning.
