A fire on an oil pipeline operated by Shell Plc in Nigeria that feeds crude to the key Bonny export terminal killed about a dozen people, according to state police and a local political official.
(Bloomberg) — A fire on an oil pipeline operated by Shell Plc in Nigeria that feeds crude to the key Bonny export terminal killed about a dozen people, according to state police and a local political official.
The explosion hit the Rumuekpe-Nkpoku Trunk Line in Rivers State in the early hours of Friday morning, Chidi Lloyd, chairman of the Emohua local government area, said by phone. Around 15 individuals died in the blast that happened as people loaded crude stolen from the pipeline, he said after assessing the damage.
A spokesman for Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary said its technical teams were working with government agencies to put out the fire. A joint investigation team will look to establish the cause of the explosion, the spokesman said.Â
Shell didn’t respond to questions from Bloomberg about whether there were any fatalities in the incident.
Pipeline theft is a major illicit industry in the oil-rich Niger Delta, with the pilfered crude either processed domestically at makeshift illegal refineries or transported out to sea for sale on the international market. Deadly accidents are frequent.Â
The federal government and Shell should to do more to curtail the dangerous trade, in part by making the infrastructure less easily accessible and cracking down on the complicity of the security forces, according to Lloyd.Â
The trunk-line is part of the larger Trans-Niger Pipeline that ships crude to the Bonny oil terminal, according to a trader of West African crude. It’s not yet known if the incident will affect planned loadings of Bonny Light but would boost the value of rival Nigerian crudes if production is curtailed, the trader said.
(Updated with local official’s comments from second paragraph.)
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