The Nigerian Air Force (NAF), through the Air Component of Operation DELTA SAFE (AC OPDS) at the 115 Special Operations Group Port Harcourt, has reinforced its role in protecting Nigeria’s energy infrastructure and reducing economic losses from oil theft and illegal refining.
This renewed push follows the directive of the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hasan Bala Abubakar, for air components to step up operational tempo across all theatres.
Disclosing this today, 19th September 2025, during a periodic brief by the Commander, AC OPDS, Group Captain Abdulafeez Opaleye, explained that across multiple Niger Delta states, daily helicopter sorties have denied saboteurs access to pipelines, illegal refineries, and logistics hubs, actions that, according to industry data, are contributing to a measurable rebound in national oil output.
The NAF’s presence above the mangrove, riverine, and coastal terrain is now a critical defense of Nigeria’s economic lifeline.
“Between May and August 2025, the Group’s surveillance and attack platforms, conducted sustained Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Armed Reconnaissance, and Pipeline Patrol missions over Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River states”, he added.
These operations uncovered and destroyed dozens of illegal refining facilities, neutralized camps supporting militants, destroyed cooking tanks and reservoirs, and exposed illicit oil theft networks.
“Each mission not only degraded criminal capacity, but also reinforced deterrence, making it riskier and less profitable for saboteurs to operate,” he noted.
He added that these security gains have coincided with an uptick in Nigerian oil production. In July 2025, total oil output averaged 1.71 million barrels per day (mbpd), including condensates, while crude oil alone stood at approximately 1.51 mbpd”, this figure, he said, “reflects a steady month-on-month rise from earlier in 2025.
The output surge is broadly attributed to enhanced security operations, including those led or supported by AC OPDS in the Niger Delta, which have reduced disruptions from sabotage and theft.
The Chief of Training and Operations (CTOP), Air Vice Marshal Francis Edosa, in his remarks added that mission metrics from May through July 2025 detail the depth of AC OPDS’s operations: 117 missions, 189 sorties, 192 flight hours; expending ammunition, consuming over 60,000 litres of Jet A-1 fuel; destroying 25 cooking tanks, 11 reservoirs, and 3 drums used in illegal refining processes.
These actions have proven that kinetic and intelligence driven air operations can yield both security and economic dividends.
The Director of Public Relations and Information (DOPRI), Headquarters, Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, therefore, reaffirms NAF’s commitment to further stabilize the Niger Delta, safeguarding national oil revenue, and ensuring that the skies remain hostile to sabotage and safe for legitimate production.
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