Monday, August 16, 2010

BBC News-Sabotage of Oil Lines In Nigeria on the Increase

Oil Pipeline in Nigeria: BBC News
(Story reported by BBC News)

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has said acts of sabotage are increasing in southern Nigeria.

The Anglo-Dutch company said it had suffered at least three separate incidents of sabotage on its pipelines in the Niger Delta this month.

In a statement, Shell said it had put containment booms into surrounding waterways to stop the flow of oil.

Thieves known as bunkerers often try to pierce the pipes to siphon off oil and sell it on.

Shell official Babs Omotowa said thieves had drilled holes or used hacksaws to pierce pipelines in the Cawthorne Channel leading to the terminal at Bonny in Rivers State.

"The environmental and social cost of widespread sabotage is simply unacceptable," he said.

The Niger Delta is a vast network of mangrove creeks that make up one of the world's largest wetlands.

(click here to read the full story on the BBC News website)

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