This link has been bookmarked by 8 people . It was first bookmarked on 29 Jul 2008, by Energy Net.
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19 Dec 12
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10 Nov 10
Derek KloostermanQuestion: What are the main factors that contribute to the violence over oil in Nigeria?
Summary: They are illegally putting valves onto oil pipe lines and stealing oil right out of the pipes.
Reflection: I think that people are getting very desperate because they are secretly installing valves on oil pipe lines just to steal oil from the oil companies. This is very smart but very wrong.
Questions: When is the government going to see how desperate people are and that he needs to make change.
Citation: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7519302.stm-
Under cover of night dozens of barges queue up to dock at a jetty in a creek somewhere in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta.
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Their holds are filled with stolen oil running from valves illegally installed into a pipeline.
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Full, they chug downstream to meet around 10 larger ships near the oil export terminal in Bonny, Rivers State, where they disgorge their cargo.
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According to Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua this is "blood oil", akin to the trade in "blood diamonds" that fuelled bloody civil wars in West African neighbours Liberia and Sierra Leone.
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"If the president goes after them, they could destabilise the country, cause a coup, a civil war. They are that powerful, they could bring the state down," said the source, who did not want to be identified.
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He says that attempts in the past to bring the trade under control were stopped for that reason.
"This is an industry that makes £30m ($60m) a day, they'd kill you, me, anyone, in order to protect it," he said.
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'Legal theft'
But militant-assisted theft is not the only way oil is stolen.
According to a source close to the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the heavy military presence in the Delta has led oil bunkerers to find other ways to extract more oil.
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Simply put, they just load more onto a ship than they are allowed to.
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Estimates on how much oil is stolen in this manner vary, but according to the International Maritime Organisation last year it amounted to 80,000 barrels every day.
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Possible solution?
The only way to shut down the oil cartels, observers say, is a tighter regulatory framework.
This would involve electronic bills of how much oil a ship has loaded, which would record if they had been tampered with.
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Oil can also be "fingerprinted".
The technology to distinguish between different types of oil exists already, says Patrick Dele Cole, a former adviser to Mr Obasanjo.
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Soldiers have indiscriminately burned whole towns and killed civilians, according to activists.
The high price of oil today is partly a result of Nigeria's complex and shadowy world of corruption and violence.
It is into this chaotic shadow world that the UK is about to commit itself.
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12 Oct 10
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20 Sep 08
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03 Aug 08
Arabica RobustaUnder cover of night dozens of barges queue up to dock at a jetty in a creek somewhere in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta.
Their holds are filled with stolen oil running from valves illegally installed into a pipeline. -
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29 Jul 08
Energy NetUnder cover of night dozens of barges queue up to dock at a jetty in a creek somewhere in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta.
Their holds are filled with stolen oil running from valves illegally installed into a pipeline. -
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28 Jul 08
Dante-Gabryell Monsonlosing billions of dollars every year to oil smuggling. The illegal "bunkering", as it is known, makes a huge profit for Nigerian syndicates and rogue international traders.
![An illegal tap put in a pipeline [photo courtesy of legaloil.com]](http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44857000/jpg/_44857863_legaloil_valve_226.jpg)
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