ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) – Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered security forces yesterday to destroy illegal oil refineries he says have been operating in the country’s oil-rich south.

The decision was made at a meeting with governors of the turbulent southern Niger delta, where most of the country’s 2.4 million barrels per day of oil are pumped, said a statement from the presidency.

Obasanjo “expresses shock at the presence of illegal refineries,” said the statement, which added that the destruction should take place immediately.

Nigeria’s defense and police ministers were present at the meeting, as well as the country’s top security chiefs.

The Niger delta has been the scene of gathering tension since March 2003, when ethnic Ijaws launched an uprising which saw entire villages razed and 40 per cent of the OPEC member nation’s oil output cut off. Some 140,000 barrels per day of this oil remains shut in because of continuing insecurity.

Armed militias have turned to illegally siphoning off oil and other petroleum products from pipelines which crisscross the delta’s rivers and creeks. The most prominent militia leader, Moujahid Dokubo-Asari, has said he sustains his movement with earnings from its own small oil refinery.

However, some observers doubt the existence of such machinery. Gangs are able to obtain relatively pure petroleum by siphoning off a product called gas condensate, which can be mixed with normal petrol and poured straight into a car’s fuel tank.

Obasanjo blamed the “collapse of community values” for the growing criminality in the delta.

Criminal gangs made up mainly of unemployed youths steal tens of thousands of barrels of oil per day in Nigeria, selling some of it on international markets. Much of the revenue is reportedly spent on arms, raising concerns that violence in the area could escalate.