Ogun illegal refinery had 90,000-litre underground tank – NMDPRA

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority on Wednesday said that the illegal refinery recently discovered at Ogere Remo in Ikenne Local Government Area of Ogun State was operating on over three hectares of land, with an underground storage tank estimated to have a capacity of more than 90,000 litres.

The State Coordinator of NMDPRA, Dr Atilola Akinyemi, disclosed this on Wednesday during a joint inspection of the facility by officials of the authority and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Akinyemi explained, “We received information about this operation, and we realised that it was important for us to be here personally. This kind of discovery cannot be made through ordinary monitoring alone; it requires intelligence gathering. As the Zonal Director of the EFCC has explained, intelligence was instrumental in uncovering this operation. We need more of such efforts.”

“The facility you see here is very crude and completely illegal. This is not a refinery by any standard. I want you to understand that this facility does not have a permit from any regulatory authority, and its operations are unknown to the relevant authorities.

“This can be likened to the illegal refining activities that were prevalent in the Niger Delta during the 1990s and early 2000s. One question that comes to mind is: where do they source their feedstock?”

He explained that the facility had underground storage tanks with an estimated capacity of more than 90,000 litres, locally fabricated tanks, separation silos, underground heating systems and hydrants used for cooling.

Akinyemi added that the operators appeared to have technical knowledge and had designed the facility to imitate a standard refinery while bypassing established regulations.

He, however, cautioned against describing the recovered products as diesel, also known as Automotive Gas Oil, saying laboratory tests were necessary to determine their actual composition.

The NMDPRA coordinator warned that allowing the products into the market could expose vehicles and automobile engines to serious risks.

He maintained that the products and materials recovered from the facility had been confiscated and placed under the authority of the Federal Government pending laboratory analysis and verification.

Akinyemi declared that the authority would not tolerate illegal refining activities in Ogun State, adding that it would continue to collaborate with law enforcement agencies to uncover similar facilities.

He added, “We can identify the various components of the operation, including the areas where they receive their feedstock. The underground storage facility behind the site is estimated to have a capacity of more than 90,000 litres.

“We have also seen how they carry out the heating and processing of the materials using underground heating systems, as well as the water hydrants installed for cooling.

“It is clear that the people behind this operation are not ordinary individuals. They appear to be technically skilled people who have deliberately designed this facility to circumvent government regulations and operate outside the established regulatory framework.

“We have seen locally fabricated storage tanks, silos for separation, and other equipment. Everything about the setup suggests that they attempted to replicate the operations of a standard refinery but failed to meet the required standards.”

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Meanwhile, the EFCC Zonal Director, Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, Bawa Usman Kaltungo, said that the commission acted on information provided by a Nigerian whistleblower, adding that surveillance was conducted to authenticate the intelligence before a sting operation was launched.

According to him, the information was provided following an appeal by the EFCC Executive Chairman, who had encouraged Nigerians to report suspicious activities under the commission’s whistleblowing policy.

“A Nigerian who responded to that call subsequently provided us with information about an illegal mining site. We informed the Chairman, who directed us to conduct surveillance first. We carried out the surveillance and confirmed that the information was accurate,” Kaltungo said.

“Following that, the Chairman directed us to conduct a sting operation, which we successfully carried out. It was during that operation that we discovered this facility. We are also on the verge of discovering another location.”

The EFCC official expressed concern over the immigration status of some of the foreign nationals arrested, saying some could not produce passports, while others had visas that reportedly expired about three months earlier.

He added that the commission was investigating the ownership structure of the companies allegedly connected with the operation, noting that some of the ultimate owners were based in China.

Also speaking, the Director of the Department of Proceeds of Crime Management, EFCC, Mr Gbolahan Latona, warned that illegal petroleum operations could undermine legitimate investments in Nigeria’s refining industry and deprive the country of revenue.

He said the commission would ensure that assets established to be proceeds of crime were recovered and put to productive use in accordance with the law.

Latona cited the conversion of Nok University, following its forfeiture to the government, into the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, as an example of the EFCC’s asset recovery and social reuse initiative.

He said the discovered facility could also be subjected to appropriate recovery and reuse procedures, depending on the outcome of investigations and the necessary legal processes.

Latona further warned that illegal operators should not be allowed to undermine investments made by legitimate players in the petroleum industry, particularly major domestic refining projects.

He assured that the suspects would face prosecution if sufficient evidence was established against them, adding that the commission would also investigate individuals and interests allegedly financing the operation from outside the country.