NIGERIA: Villagers block access to ruptured oil pipe in delta, says Shell

LAGOS, 3 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - Angry residents of a southern Nigerian village where a Royal Dutch/Shell oil pipeline burst, have set the spilled crude on fire, preventing repair teams from reaching the site, the company said.

Shell said it first noticed leaks in its 18-inch diameter pipeline at Egbeda village in Rivers State last weekend. The pipeline is part of a key network that transports crude oil from the inland oilfields of the Niger Delta to the terminals on the coast for export.

"While efforts to secure access to the spill site were ongoing, some unknown persons set fire to two leak points," Shell spokesman Don Boham said in a statement on Thursday night.

He said government authorities had been notified of the problem.

Oil oozing into streams rich in fish and onto farmland has been a major source of conflict between multinationals pumping the oil and people living next to the billion dollar industry. Oil spills are frequent in the Niger Delta, which accounts for most of Nigeria’s exports of up to 2.5 million barrels per day.

Oil companies blame many of the spills on acts of sabotage by people in the region’s impoverished villages who they say are seeking to extort compensation money.

But these people say the oil companies are guilty of neglect, allowing pipes to corrode. They are also aggrieved by the multinationals' refusal to pay compensation for damage to farmland and fishing waters if sabotage is found to be the reason behind the spill.

Shell is currently locked in a dispute with Nigeria's federal parliament over a resolution demanding that the multinational pay US $1.5 billion to the Ijaw population of Bayelsa State to compensate them for spills and other environmental degradation caused by its oil operations in the area.

The resolution approved by both chambers of the legislature, is not binding in law and John Brambaifa, who heads the senate committee on the Niger Delta, told reporters on Wednesday that Shell had formerly written to the congress and senate, rejecting this demand to pay up.

Brambaifa said the letter, dated 14 November, was an affront to Nigeria’s sovereignty and his committee would recommend within two weeks that the senate impose sanctions on Shell.

Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa and Shell accounts for half its output.

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