The Nigerian Navy has denied alleged theft of crude oil by MT HEROIC IDUN, a very large crude oil carrier that sailed into the Nigeria maritime domain on the 7th of this month with the intention of stealing crude oil at the Akpo Oil Field, off the shores of Bonny.
This is amid claims that the 336-meter tanker with a capacity of 299,995 Metric Tonnes, that’s an equivalent of about 1.9 Million Barrels of Crude, left the shores of Nigeria with stolen crude.
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MT HEROIC IDUN, a 336-meter tanker with a capacity of 299,995 Metric Tonnes is being held at the Luba Anchorage in Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea.
According to Fleet Mon, an online platform for tracking vessels, the tanker sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands, left Singapore on June the 25th enroute to Equatorial Guinea.
The very large crude carrier entered the Nigerian Maritime Environment on August the 7th and headed for Akpo Field without any form of authorisation or clearance.
Suspicious of the vessel’s mission, the Nigerian Navy Ship decided to arrest the tanker whose captain rather than comply engaged full speed southwards towards the Sao Tome and Principe maritime area.
Equatorial Guinean authorities are now conducting investigations to determine what transpired.
The Nigerian Navy expects that the vessel will eventually be handed over to it for prosecution.
Nigeria loses an average of 200,000 barrels of crude per day to oil thieves, translating to 73 million barrels in a year.
