Equatorial Guinea hands over rogue vessel involved in oil theft to Nigerian Navy

The government of Equatorial Guinea says it has recovered a vessel suspected of being engaged in illegal crude export, and handed same over to the Nigerian Navy.

The oil vessel, which was measured 336m in length and 60m in width, a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) and called MT Heroic Idun, was escorted back to Nigeria after it was handed over to the Nigerian authorities by the government of Equatorial Guinea.

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Built in 2020 and currently sailing under the flag of Marshall Islands and owned by Messrs Idun Maritime Limited, with Messrs Inchcape Shipping as its agent in Nigeria, and OSM Ship Management AS as the vessel manage, the ship was accosted on the 8th of August within the Akpo offshore oil field in the bid to illegally lift crude oil.

In a tweet dated November 6, 2022, the Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodore Nguema Obiang, had confirmed the handover of the vessel to the Nigerian Navy.

“The handover was carried out in Equatorial Guinea on November 6, 2022. It is now expected that the vessel will return to Nigeria, for further investigations by the Nigerian Government”, the tweet read.

The handover came following significant bilateral diplomatic negotiations between the two countries involved.

As of the time of this report, no official statement had been released by the authorities of the Nigerian Navy regarding the development.

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