• Oil theft slumps 82.9% to 17,600bpd in five years amid fresh uptick in losses
• Navy uncovers 132,000 litres of stolen crude oil in Bonny
Emmanuel Addeh and Linus Aleke in Abuja
Crude oil prices surged above $117 a barrel at the weekend, reaching their highest level since April, as fears of renewed US military strikes on Iran and escalating threats to energy infrastructure across the Middle East heightened concerns about global crude supplies.
This comes as oil theft and pipeline losses in Nigeria fell by 82.9 per cent in five years, from 102,900 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 17,600 bpd in the first seven months of 2026, amid fresh concerns about further increases in lost volumes after years of decline.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Navy has uncovered 132,000 litres of stolen crude oil in Allison community, Bonny Local Government Area (LGA) of Rivers State, disrupting a potential storage point in the illicit petroleum supply chain as troops of Operation Delta Sentinel intensified their clampdown on oil theft and economic saboteurs in the Niger Delta region.
Nigeria’s oil benchmark, Brent crude, climbed by about 3.5 per cent to cross $117 a barrel during trading before easing to just above $116, still up approximately 2.7 per cent.
The latest rally followed reports that Washington was considering fresh military strikes against Iran after the November 3 midterm elections, raising concerns that the conflict, now in its eighth month, could escalate further rather than move towards a diplomatic resolution.
Iran had threatened to attack oil facilities, undersea cables, data centres and artificial intelligence infrastructure across the Gulf if the United States and Israel launched a new offensive against the country.
Brent crude traded at about $72 a barrel in February, before the war began, but surged to about $126 a barrel by the end of April as the conflict intensified and concerns mounted over supply security.
Tensions rose again during the week following claims by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) that it struck four commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday.
The US ordered some diplomats and family members of American government employees to leave Saudi Arabia, which had faced continued attacks by Houthi rebels operating from Yemen.