INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Several people were feared burnt to death overnight following an explosion at an illegal oil refinery in southern Nigeria, an NGO said
Fyneface Dumnamene, Executive Director of Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC).Local media reports said over 100 people had been
in the southern-oil region where oil thieves vandalise pipelines to steal crude which they refine to sell at the black market.Most people in
the oil-producing Niger delta live in poverty even though the country is the biggest oil producer on the continent, with around two million
barrels per day.Pipeline fires are commonplace in Nigeria, in part because of poor pipeline maintenance but also because of thieves who
vandalise pipelines to siphon off petrol and sell it on the black market.Hundreds have been killed in the past due to stealing and illegal
refining of petroleum products known locally as bunkering.The government has deployed the military to raid and destroy illegal refineries in
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://adaderana.lk
