Will Ross, a BBC reporter, describes the production end of the oil bunkering business in the Niger Delta. The limited capacity of the state, corruption, and the desperate poverty of the Ogoni people all contribute to the survival of this illegal business.
There is also a good video in which Ross offers a guided tour of one of the primitive oil "refineries" in the delta.
Nigeria's booming illegal oil refineries
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There is also a good video in which Ross offers a guided tour of one of the primitive oil "refineries" in the delta.
Nigeria's booming illegal oil refineries
Will Ross got a rare look at an illegal oil refinery in Nigeria"Here is our business place," a man, who did not want to give his real name but asked to be called Edward, told me as we walked around a remote, heavily polluted palm-tree fringed creek in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta.
Illegal refinery
"We use these to go and collect our natural resources - our crude oil," he said, pointing to a locally carved boat lying on its side.
In the middle of the night, to avoid detection, they break into the multinational oil companies' pipelines and help themselves…
Dotted along the creek were dozens of large drums used for boiling up the crude oil.
They had pipes protruding from them leading to troughs into which the products are collected; kerosene and petrol for the local market and diesel which is taken away on barges or inland on trucks by traders.
Next to each home-made refinery are pits full of bitumen which is sold to road construction companies.
"Almost 400 people work here and every night we produce around 11,000 litres of diesel," said 32-year-old Edward, adding that his elder brothers had learnt all about the business in Bakassi, near the Cameroonian border with Nigeria…
The military is supposed to be stopping all this and some operations have been disrupted but the effort is seriously hampered by the desire to get in on the action.
"We settle with the army people. If they see money in your hand they will take that," Edward said.
"If not they will take products from you. If we have 10 drums we will give them two," he said, adding, "It's very normal." …
Teaching Comparative blog entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
See what's new in the 4th edition of What You Need to Know![]()
