Shell said Sunday sabotage of pipelines by oil thieves in southern Nigeria was on the increase and had led to halts in production, without providing details on the amount of crude lost.
“Between August 1 and 12 this year alone, (Shell) recorded three separate sabotage incidents on its Cawthorne Channel — Bonny and Alakiri — Bonny pipelines, where suspected crude thieves drilled holes or inflicted hacksaw cuts to siphon oil,” the company said in a statement.
A Shell spokesman could not specify the amount of oil spilled.
“Each time there’s an oil spill, we shut down production to repair the line,” he said.
“We’ve had three attacks — two have been repaired and production has been restored. On the third one we are about to commence repairs.”
Oil thieves in Nigeria often sabotage pipelines and take the stolen oil to illegal refineries.
“The environmental and social cost of widespread sabotage is simply unacceptable,” said Shell Vice President Babs Omotowa.
“Last year, 98 percent of the oil spilled from (Shell’s Nigeria) operations was caused by sabotage. It is our policy to clean up spills regardless of the cause.”
Militants in the country’s south have also carried out repeated attacks on pipelines and other industry targets in the country’s south in recent years, demanding a fairer distribution of oil revenue.
The attacks led to a decline in production to about one million barrels per day in the world’s eighth largest oil exporter, but an amnesty deal offered to militants last year has greatly reduced the number of incidents.
Production has since increased in Africa’s most populous nation to about 2.1 million barrels per day, according to the most recent report from the International Energy Agency.