Nigerian oil fire out after spill

LAGOS – An oil spill in Nigeria’s southern delta which caused a small dent in output was caused by unknown saboteurs who cut into a major export pipeline with a hacksaw, Royal Dutch Shell said yesterday.

The multinational estimated that 24 000 litres (150 barrels) of oil spilled from the pipeline feeding its Bonny export terminal over three days, igniting into a huge blaze on Tuesday which was only extinguished yesterday. “The leak has been clamped and the fire put out,” the company said in a statement, adding that the loss of production was just 13 000 barrels per day.Shell has redirected oil through an alternative pipeline while repairs are carried out.Shell is Nigeria’s largest oil producer, pumping a total of about one million barrels daily.Half of this is exported via the Bonny terminal.The environmental impact of the spill was worsened by the oil spilling into a stream, and contaminating a small fish farm, authorities said.Shell said a clean-up operation was underway.Sabotage of oil installations is common in Nigeria’s southern delta region, where the majority live in poverty despite the region’s huge oil wealth and about 1 000 are killed every year in ethnic, political and criminal violence.The spill occurred in land occupied by the Ogoni tribe, who have been locked in a long-standing dispute with Shell over pollution and human rights since the late dictator Sani Abacha hanged ethnic rights campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995.-Nampa-Reuters”The leak has been clamped and the fire put out,” the company said in a statement, adding that the loss of production was just 13 000 barrels per day.Shell has redirected oil through an alternative pipeline while repairs are carried out.Shell is Nigeria’s largest oil producer, pumping a total of about one million barrels daily.Half of this is exported via the Bonny terminal.The environmental impact of the spill was worsened by the oil spilling into a stream, and contaminating a small fish farm, authorities said.Shell said a clean-up operation was underway.Sabotage of oil installations is common in Nigeria’s southern delta region, where the majority live in poverty despite the region’s huge oil wealth and about 1 000 are killed every year in ethnic, political and criminal violence.The spill occurred in land occupied by the Ogoni tribe, who have been locked in a long-standing dispute with Shell over pollution and human rights since the late dictator Sani Abacha hanged ethnic rights campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995.-Nampa-Reuters