Economy
Navy Uncovers 16 Illegal Refineries, Seizes 210MT of Crude Oil in Rivers
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Pathfinder, has uncovered and dismantled 16 illegal refineries with the capacity to refine 9.6 million litres of crude oil around Elem-krakama community in the Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The Navy also arrested 14 suspects, including a woman at the illegal refining site, who allegedly attached a 14-inch pipe to siphoned over 210 metric tonnes of crude oil from wellhead 15 within OML 18 operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
Speaking, NNS Pathfinder Commander, Commodore Desmond Igbo, said the suspects were arrested in the act of crude oil theft and illegal oil refining activities
Commodore Igbo said the recovered crude will be handed over to the appropriate authority, while the suspects were immediately handed over to officials of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for investigation and prosecution.
“This is Elem-krakama in Degema LGA of Rivers State. Behind me is oil wellhead15 which is one of the NNPCL OML18 operated wellheads. You can see a very big 14-inch hose connected illegally to this wellhead15. They are transferring crude oil to this big wooden boat also known as Cotonou boat.
“Each of these boats contains 700 metric tonnes of crude oil, the pipes are connected to the reservoirs through the 4-inch hose and from there, they will start cooking it. The cooking pots also contain about 1.5 million litres of AGO. This is not good for our country and for the economy. They have polluted the environment, they will tap from this oil wellhead and the excess will spill over and pollute the water body.
“We have about 16 cooking pots within this illegal refining site and each of them contains about 600 thousand litres, which is quite huge. As you can see where they are tapping it from right from the oil wellhead belonging to NNPC Limited.
“It is economic sabotage. We are crushing the cooking pots. We have already told the operators of OML18 to clamp down the wellhead permanently so that they can not come back and engage in it. We are hoping that they will do that and we will give them the necessary security and safety they would need to do that.
“The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, has mandated us and we are not deterred, we will continue and we will ensure that oil theft in Niger Delta becomes history. We will continue both day and night. We will not rest on our oars we must stamp it.”
The NNS Pathfinder boss further urged youths involved in oil theft and illegal refining activities to look for another means of livelihood, warning that the Navy will not rest on its oars in stamping out all forms of oil theft from the Niger Delta.
“I have talked with their leaders, paramount chiefs and community leaders, but it seems they are not relenting and we will not relent. We will hand them over to the appropriate prosecuting agencies, we will ensure that justice prevails. They will not get away with it, we will monitor the court trials and processes in this case.
“The message is still the same, they should talk to their children to desist from these illegal activities. This is economic sabotage. It is not good for them, their community and the country’s economy. They must desist from it,” he added
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
One of the paint makers in Nigeria, Premier Paints Plc, is currently in talks with a new investor, Xenergi Limited, for the purchase of 51 per cent stake in the company.
Xenergi Limited intends to acquire shares of Clover Global Resources Limited and TGHL Capital Limited in the organisation.
Business Post gathered that the new investor will buy 39.02 per cent from Clover Global Resources Limited and 15.20 per cent from TGHL Capital Limited.
The deal, according to a regulatory notice issued on Tuesday on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, will involve about 63 million shares of Premier Paints.
At the current share price of the paint producer, this should be about N630 million as it closed at N10.00 per unit on NGX on December 16, 2025.
“Subject to obtaining required regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close before January 31, 2026.
“The company will continue to inform the public of the progress of the transaction,” the disclosure signed by the company secretary, Alozie Nwokoro, said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira was flat against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Tuesday, December 16, retaining the previous closing value of N1,451.82/$1.
In the same vein, the local currency saw no movement against the Pound Sterling and the Euro in the spot market during the session at N1,943.98/£1 and N1,705.74/€1, respectively.
Also, the Nigerian Naira remained unchanged in the black market yesterday at N1,475/$1 and was N1,460/$1 at the GTBank forex counter.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has strengthened US Dollar supply with $250 million to authorised dealer banks at the official window cumulatively as foreign portfolio investors, exporters and non-bank corporate supply dripped.
The spread between official and other non-regulated markets decreased to N30.59$/1 from N44.57/$1, from the previous week, research subsidiary of Coronation Merchant Bank Limited said in a report.
FX analysts said foreign exchange inflows through the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market decreased to $716.3 million from $844.70 million in the previous week , a 15 per cent drop in a week.
Foreign portfolio investors accounted for the highest share of inflows at 32.98 per cent, followed by exporters at 30.84 per cent, the CBN (17.36 per cent), Non-bank Corporates (16.94 per cent), others (0.72 per cent) and Individuals (0.63 per cent).
On Monday, Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 14.45 per cent in November 2025, down from 16.05 per cent recorded in October, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), representing a decrease of 1.6 percentage points month-on-month and marks a significant moderation compared to the same period last year.
As for the cryptocurrency market, there was some recoveries after overall capitalization falling below $3 trillion for the third time in a month. Large-cap assets, particularly those with Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) exposure, are experiencing selling pressure as institutional investors reassess risk.
Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 1.5 per cent to $1.92, Litecoin (LTC) expanded by 1.5 per cent to $78.91, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 0.8 per cent to $0.1308, Solana (SOL) went up by 0.4 per cent to $127.60, Binance Coin (BNB) grew by 0.3 per cent to $865.40, and Bitcoin (BTC) gained 0.2 per cent to sell at $86,735.17.
On the flip side, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 1.0 per cent to $0.3802 and Ethereum (ETH) slumped by 0.4 per cent to $2,935.85, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) were flat at $1.00 each.
By Dipo Olowookere
A marginal 0.01 per cent rise was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday. This was different from the flattish mode of the market the previous day.
Investor sentiment remained bullish as Customs Street finished with 31 price gainers and 26 price losers, implying a positive market breadth index.
Aluminium Extrusion topped the gainers’ log after it improved its price by 10.00 per cent to N9.35, Guinness Nigeria appreciated by 9.98 per cent to N263.40, Multiverse expanded by 9.95 per cent to N12.15, MeCure Industries also soared by 9.95 per cent to N45.85, and Sovereign Trust Insurance advanced by 9.89 per cent to N4.11.
Conversely, Haldane McCall led the losers’ chart after it shed 9.93 per cent to settle at N3.72, Veritas Kapital lost 9.09 per cent to close at N1.60, LivingTrust Mortgage Bank also declined by 9.09 per cent to N3.50, and Linkage Assurance depreciated by 5.71 per cent to N1.65.
During the trading day, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 21.23 points to 149,459.11 points from the previous day’s 149,437.88 points and the market capitalisation increased by N14 billion to N95.281 trillion from N95.267 trillion.
Yesterday, traders transacted 1.0 billion equities for N21.8 billion in 23,701 deals compared with the 553.1 million equities valued at N13.3 billion traded in 28,907 deals on Monday, representing a decline in the number of deals by 18.01 per cent, and a surge in the trading volume and value by 80.80 per cent and 63.91 per cent apiece.
Access Holdings traded 385.8 million stocks worth N7.7 billion, Champion Breweries transacted 111.8 million shares valued at N817.8 million, Sterling Holdings exchanged 85.5 million equities for N589.9 million, FCMB sold 74.7 million shares valued at N791.5 million, and First Holdco transacted 51.9 million equities worth N1.8 billion.
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