The Nigerian Navy has uncovered about 40,000 litres of substance suspected to be crude oil stored in a large dugout reservoir in the Oteghele general area of Delta State.
The discovery was made on Tuesday, October 7, 2026, by personnel of the Nigerian Navy Ship Delta during an anti-crude oil theft operation in the area.
The operation followed credible intelligence on suspected crude oil theft and other related illegal activities within the Navy’s area of operations.
The Director of Naval Information, Navy Captain Abiodun Folorunsho, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday.
Folorunsho said the recovered substance and the dugout reservoir were subsequently handled in line with established procedures.
He noted that the latest discovery came barely two weeks after NNS DELTA uncovered another large quantity of suspected stolen crude oil in the same area.
According to him, about 30,000 litres of suspected crude oil were discovered at Oteghele on September 21, 2026.
The naval spokesman said the repeated discoveries underscored the Navy’s sustained efforts to disrupt illegal crude oil storage and deny criminal elements access to the nation’s petroleum resources.
He added that the Nigerian Navy would continue to conduct intelligence-led operations across its area of responsibility to tackle crude oil theft and safeguard critical petroleum infrastructure.
Folorunsho said, “The Nigerian Navy will continue to sustain intelligence-led operations across its Area of Operations to disrupt crude oil theft and protect the nation’s critical petroleum resources.”
