The Nigerian Navy has foiled an attempted sabotage of an oil wellhead in Bonny, Rivers State, preventing what it described as a planned crude oil theft operation targeting critical oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta.
Gatekeepers News reports that personnel of the Forward Operating Base (FOB) Bonny intercepted a fibre boat under suspicious circumstances during routine patrols near the Renaissance African Energy Company Limited (RAECL) Oloma Flow Station.
In a statement, the Director of Information, Nigerian Navy, Captain Abiodun Folorunsho, said the occupants of the boat abandoned it and fled upon sighting the naval patrol team.
According to him, a search of the abandoned boat led to the recovery of equipment commonly associated with wellhead tampering and pipeline vandalism.
The recovered items include a portable generator, a cutting and grinding machine, chisels, spanners, cutlasses and other accessories believed to have been assembled to compromise the wellhead and siphon crude oil.
Folorunsho said follow-up operations conducted in collaboration with other security agencies resulted in the arrest of one suspect linked to the attempted sabotage, while efforts are ongoing to apprehend other members of the criminal network.
“The recovered fibre boat has been secured for further investigation,” he said.
The naval spokesman noted that the operation successfully prevented an attack on critical oil infrastructure, denying the suspects the opportunity to cause economic losses and environmental damage through acts of sabotage.
He reaffirmed the Nigerian Navy’s commitment to intelligence-driven operations under Operation Delta Sentinel (OPDS), aimed at protecting critical national assets, combating crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism, and denying economic saboteurs freedom of operation within Nigeria’s maritime domain.
