A spokesman for the Nigerian Navy told reporters on Friday that an oil supertanker that had been suspected by the country’s officials of trying to illegally load crude before leaving its territorial seas was now returning home.
The Heroic Idun, a ship with a capacity for 2 million barrels of oil, was captured by Equatorial Guinea on August 17 at the request of Nigerian authorities for sailing without an identification flag, evading the Nigerian navy, and traveling in Equatorial Guinean waters without permission.
According to officials in Nigeria, the ship was owned by Messrs. Idun Maritime Ltd. of the Marshall Islands. Idun Martime couldn’t be reached by reporters.
Two Nigerian naval vessels had started escorting the ship back to Nigeria on Friday afternoon, according to Commodore Kayode Ayo-Vaughan, spokesman for the Nigerian Navy, who spoke to reporters.
The ship was headed for Bonny, Nigeria, according to Refinitiv vessel monitoring data on Friday.
The government of Equatorial Guinea’s spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, vice president and in charge of security and defense in Equatorial Guinea, announced on Twitter on November 7 that he had given the go-ahead for the ship to return to Nigeria.
According to Nigeria’s official oil firm, oil theft has reduced the country’s oil production by more than 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), wrecked state finances, and moved Nigeria from Africa’s top exporter to number two.
Nigeria claimed the ship made a false report of a piracy attack, entered a restricted area without permission, and attempted to load crude oil illegally.
However, Nigeria claimed the ship had not carried any oil before the Navy approached it.
The crew truly believed they were under a piracy attack, according to the vessel manager OSM Maritime, and leaving the area for international waters was the best management practice. The crew was waiting for clearance papers when the navy approached the vessel.
It claimed that they had given Equatorial Guinea a fine in September in exchange for the release of the ship and her crew, and it referred to the vessel’s ongoing incarceration as “terrible maritime injustice.”
The Nigerian government stated that the ship must return to face charges or otherwise cleanse its name in a fact sheet given to reporters.
According to the fact sheet, “this would indeed send a strong message to any collaborators involved in stealing crude oil in Nigeria, as well as the international community at large.”
The 26-man crew of the ship petitioned a federal high court in Abuja on November 8 to stop attempts to “unlawfully rendition” them back to Nigeria, claiming that there was no extradition treaty between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea and no agreement on mutual legal assistance. The case’s decision date has not yet been set.
