The Nigerian Navy on Monday flagged off Operation DELTA SANITY II at Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) PATHFINDER, in Port Harcourt Rivers State.
A statement by Commodore Aiwuyor Adams-Aliu, Director of Information of the Nigerian Navy (NN), the operation was flagged off by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Hieneken Lokpobiri.
Commodore Adams-Aliu said that the operation was in line with the President and Commander-in-Chief’s directive to eradicate crude oil theft and ramp up Nigeria’s production for an improved economy. Since then, the operation has been a huge success.
Operation DELTA SANITY I was launched by Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, in January 2024 as a major anti-crude oil theft operation.
The Operation DELTA SANITY 2 is being executed with deployed personnel, patrol boats, helicopters and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), other Maritime Domain Awareness infrastructure and Armed Attack Drones on aggressive surveillance and interdiction operations across the Niger Delta area.
According to the Naval Spokesperson: “In 2024, a total of 215 suspects and 26 vessels were arrested while 468 Illegal Refinery sites were deactivated.
“Also, an estimated quantity of 6.5million litres of stolen crude oil and 7million litres of illegally refined Automated Gas Oil were seized and appropriately handled. Furthermore, 361 wooden boats, 1,107 dugout pits and 279 storage tanks were deactivated.”
In his remarks, Senator Lokpobiri confirmed that these successes contributed significantly to increasing Nigeria’s crude oil production to about 1.8million barrels per day.
While commending the Nigerian Navy on this remarkable achievement, he expressed optimism that more could be done.
Similarly, the Chief of Naval Staff stated that “Operation DELTA SANITY II would build on the successes of Operation DELTA SANITY I but it would involve increased Aerial surveillance through improved deployment of Maritime Domain Awareness infrastructure, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Armed Attack Drones.”
He added that the operation will also incorporate non-kinetic measures, improved collaboration with sister services, security agencies and all relevant stakeholders to ensure continuous increase in Nigeria’s crude oil production to over 2 million barrels per day.
Admiral Ogalla charged all participating Commands, Units and Establishments to strive towards realising the desired operational objectives of Operation DELTA SANITY II while expressing his profound gratitude to the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu “for his unwavering support to the Nigerian Navy.”
