The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says its intensified air operations under Operation DELTA SAFE are driving up oil production and curbing economic sabotage in the Niger Delta.
Speaking during a periodic briefing on Friday, 19 September 2025, the Commander of the Air Component of Operation DELTA SAFE (AC OPDS), Group Captain Abdulafeez Opaleye, disclosed that sustained helicopter sorties across multiple states have disrupted illegal refining activities and deterred pipeline vandals.
He said the operations, carried out between May and August 2025, spanned Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River States.
“Our surveillance and attack platforms conducted Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), Armed Reconnaissance, and Pipeline Patrol missions that uncovered and destroyed dozens of illegal refining facilities, neutralised camps, and exposed illicit oil theft networks,” Opaleye explained.
According to him, the intensified operations have coincided with a rebound in Nigeria’s oil output. “In July 2025, total oil production, including condensates, averaged 1.71 million barrels per day, while crude oil alone stood at 1.51 million barrels per day. This steady rise is linked to enhanced security operations that have reduced disruptions from theft and sabotage,” he said.
Further highlighting the scale of operations, the Chief of Training and Operations, Air Vice Marshal Francis Edosa, revealed that between May and July 2025, the Air Component executed 117 missions, 189 sorties, and logged 192 flight hours. The missions destroyed 25 cooking tanks, 11 reservoirs, and three drums used for illegal refining, while consuming over 60,000 litres of Jet A-1 fuel.
“These figures show that intelligence-driven air operations are yielding both security and economic dividends,” Edosa noted.
The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Bala Abubakar, had earlier directed all air components to step up operational tempo nationwide, a directive the NAF says it remains committed to in safeguarding Nigeria’s energy infrastructure.