Nigerian authorities have beefed up efforts to thwart the theft of crude products in the West African country's oil-rich Niger Delta region.

Large-scale oil theft from pipelines and wells has been one of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu's biggest challenges, damaging government finances and limiting Nigeria's output and exports.

Nigeria, Africa's top economy and major oil producer, lost about 620 million barrels of crude oil — valued at $46 billion (€42 billion) — between 2009 and 2020 alone, according to the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, an organization that promotes accountability in the management of the nations's oil, gas and mining revenue.

Nigeria's oil workers union in April asked Nigerian President Bola Tinubu to deploy more troops to combat the widespread theft from oil pipelines, which, along with the sabotage of onshore pipelines, has forced oil majors like Shell and Exxon to sell onshore assets.

In the same month, Nigeria's Navy recruited 1,486 personnel to boost internal........

© Deutsche Welle