Cooking with Gas: The Dirty, Dangerous World of Nigeria's Oil Thieves

August 03, 2012 from Al Jazeera English

A sophisticated criminal network has stepped up its operations in Nigeria's Bayelsa State costing state and oil companies as much as a billion dollars per month. Royal Dutch, Shell Oil Company's Nigerian subsidiary, says that between 150,000 and 180,000 barrels of oil are stolen daily from its pipelines and wells. Government estimates are twice this amount. The trade in stolen oil involves international traders who provide oil at discounted prices to refineries in other parts of the world. And as Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow exclusively reports from Bayelsa State, the impact of oil theft on the environment is devastating.

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Bayelsa State

Bayelsa State is a state in southern Nigeria in the core Niger Delta region, between Delta State and Rivers State. Its capital is Yenagoa. The four main languages spoken are Izon, Nembe, Epie-Atissa and Ogbia. Like the rest of Nigeria, English is the official language. The sta... Explore this topic

Environmental issues in the Niger Delta

Key environmental issues in the Niger Delta of Nigeria relate to its petroleum industry. The delta covers 20,000 km² within wetlands of 70,000 km² formed primarily by sediment deposition. Home to 20 million people and 40 different ethnic groups, this floodplain makes up 7.5% o... Explore this topic

Nigeria

Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in t... Explore this topic

Black market

A black market or underground economy is the market in which illegal goods are traded. Due to the nature of the goods traded, the market itself is forced to operate outside the formal economy, supported by the established state power. Typically the totality of such activity is... Explore this topic

Shell Nigeria

Shell Nigeria is the colloquial name for Royal Dutch Shell's Nigerian operations carried out through four subsidiaries—primarily through Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited. Royal Dutch Shell's joint ventures account for more than 21% of Nigeria's total petr... Explore this topic

Shell

Royal Dutch Shell plc (LSE: RDSA, RDSB), commonly known as Shell, is an Anglo–Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's second largest company by 2011 revenues and... Explore this topic

Oil refinery

An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful products such as petroleum naphtha, gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas. Oil refineries are typica... Explore this topic

Niger Delta

Nigeria Delta, the delta of the Niger River in Nigeria, is a very densely populated region sometimes called the Oil Rivers because it was once a major producer of palm oil. The area was the British Oil Rivers Protectorate from 1885 until 1893, when it was expanded and became t... Explore this topic

Oil spill

An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually applied to marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters, but spills ... Explore this topic

Theft

In common usage, theft is the taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzleme... Explore this topic

Also See

Bayelsa State

Environmental issues in the Niger Delta

Nigeria

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