Nigerian authorities had detained an oil tanker offshore in southwest Ondo State that was transporting 800,000 liters (211,338 gallons) of stolen crude oil to neighboring Cameroon, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Garba Deen Muhammed, a spokesman for the state-owned Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said the seized crude ship MT Tura II is owned by a private oil company and lacked the necessary legal documentation to transport oil.
Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest oil exporters and producers, has been dealing with oil theft in the country’s Delta for long.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the crude oil cargo onboard was illegally sourced from a well jacket offshore Ondo State, Nigeria. There was no valid documentation for the Vessel or the Crude Oil Cargo onboard at the time of the arrest,” the NNPC spokesman said in an earlier statement, adding that preliminary investigations have been conducted into the detained oil tanker.
He said the vessels and crew onboard are apprehended, and that further investigations are underway.