Reuters :
An explosion at an illegal oil refining depot in Nigeria’s Rivers state killed over 100 people overnight, a local government official and the NGO Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC) said on Saturday.
“The fire outbreak occurred at an illegal bunkering site and it affected over 100 people who were burnt beyond recognition,” the state commissioner for petroleum resources, Goodluck Opiah, said.
Unemployment and poverty in the Niger Delta have made illegal crude refining an attractive business but with deadly consequences. Crude oil is tapped from a maze of pipelines owned by major oil companies and refined into products in makeshift tanks.
The hazardous process has led to many fatal accidents and has polluted a region already blighted by oil spills in farmland, creeks and lagoons.
Local authorities have started a crackdown to try put a stop to illegal refining of stolen crude, a process known locally as “Kpo Fire”, which officials say is worsening air pollution in the Delta and causing respiratory problems for some residents.
Samuel Nwanosike, chairman of Ikwerre local government area in Port Harcourt said 128 of 142 illegal refining sites identified by authorities in the area had been destroyed since a crackdown started in January.
It comes after Islamic State claimed a Friday night bombing in Nigeria’s Taraba state capital Jalingo, a statement by the group on messaging channel Telegram said.
The bomb injured 11 people including children, police said.
Okenze Onyewoke, the owner of the illegal refinery, is understood to have been had been declared a wanted person by local state authorities.
Mr Opiah called for immediate government action to end the illegal business, describing it as “suicidal”.
“It is sabotage for our people to allow this illegal act to continue,” he added.
The illegal crude refining industry has soared in the Niger Delta in recent years, with high unemployment in the region making it an attractive business.
The highly dangerous practice, known locally as “oil bunkering”, involves tapping oil from pipelines and burning it at high temperature in makeshift tanks.
An open-air market for illegal crude oil operates off the Niger Delta, called the Togo Triangle. It has been compared to an “open-air drug market” for trade in illegal crude oil and is noted for the presence of pirates.
Authorities in Nigeria have attempted to crack down on the industry amid fears that illegal refineries are creating dangerous levels of pollution that some locals blame for respiratory diseases.
Environmental groups have also led efforts to fund small-scale refineries, which are cheaper and simpler to run, in the hopes of creating jobs and ending the illegal sector.
Nigeria is the largest oil and gas producer in Africa. The Nigerian Government has predicted that the country has lost around 53 million barrels of oil worth over $2 billion (£1.56 billion) over the past few years due to illegal crude oil refineries.
It comes after Islamic State claimed respomsibility for a bombing earlier this week in Nigeria’s Taraba state capital Jalingo. Around 30 people were injured including children, police said.
In a statement posted on Telegram on Wednesday, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) described those who detonated the bomb in the market as “soldiers of the caliphate in central Nigeria”. It added that the group targeted “a gathering of infidel Christians”.
Nigeria, Africa’s largest crude oil producer, has many illegal oil refineries despite government efforts to eradicate them.
In October 2021, 25 people, including some minors, were killed at another illegal refinery in the same state.
Officials have in the past said Nigeria loses 200,000 barrels of crude oil a day because of theft and vandalism, according to a report from Reuters.
