NAF Air interdictions in 117 missions, 189 sorties boost Nigeria’s crude oil output

…Operations Curb Economic Sabotage successful Niger Delta

By Kingsley Omonobi

ABUJA — The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has disclosed that its Air Component of Operation Delta Safe (AC OPDS), operating from the 115 Special Operations Group successful Port Harcourt, has intensified aerial interdiction and surveillance missions successful the Niger Delta, importantly reducing lipid theft and boosting Nigeria’s crude lipid output.

According to Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, NAF craft executed 117 missions and 189 sorties, logging 192 formation hours betwixt May and August 2025. These operations expended ammunition, consumed implicit 60,000 litres of Jet A-1 fuel, and resulted successful the demolition of 25 cooking tanks, 11 reservoirs, and 3 drums utilized for amerciable refining.

“This renewed propulsion follows the directive of the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hasan Bala Abubakar, for aerial components to measurement up operational tempo crossed each theatres,” Ejodame stated connected Friday, September 19, during a briefing delivered by Group Captain Abdulafeez Opaleye, Commander of AC OPDS.

Opaleye explained that regular chopper sorties crossed Niger Delta states person disrupted the activities of lipid saboteurs, denied them entree to pipelines, amerciable refineries, and logistics hubs, and helped unafraid Nigeria’s vigor infrastructure.

“The NAF’s beingness supra mangrove, riverine, and coastal terrains is present a captious defence of Nigeria’s economical lifeline,” helium noted.

Between May and August 2025, AC OPDS surveillance and onslaught platforms conducted sustained Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), Armed Reconnaissance, and Pipeline Patrol missions crossed Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River states. These operations uncovered and destroyed dozens of amerciable refining sites, neutralized militant enactment camps, and exposed extended lipid theft networks.

Industry information indicates that these efforts person contributed to a measurable rebound successful Nigeria’s crude lipid production. In July 2025, the state recorded 1.71 cardinal barrels per time (mbpd) including condensates, with crude lipid unsocial averaging 1.51 mbpd — a dependable emergence compared to earlier successful the year.

Chief of Training and Operations, Air Vice Marshal Francis Edosa, stressed that the elaborate ngo metrics item the economical interaction of NAF’s campaign.

“These actions beryllium that kinetic and intelligence-driven aerial operations tin present some information and economical dividends,” Edosa said.

The NAF reaffirmed its committedness to stabilising the Niger Delta, safeguarding nationalist lipid revenue, and ensuring that Nigeria’s skies stay unsafe for saboteurs but unafraid for morganatic lipid production.

The station NAF Air interdictions successful 117 missions, 189 sorties boost Nigeria’s crude lipid output appeared archetypal connected Vanguard News.