In 2011, the Nigerian government said there had been more than 7,000 oil
spills in the country between 1970 and 2000 that could take up to 30
years and $1billion to clean up.
Another large oil spill has hit Nigeria's already devastated Niger Delta
region, killing precious mangrove swaps and wildlife.
While the spill happened near ENI's
Brass facility, the company says it has been unable to confirm the cause of
this latest disaster.
However loading accidents, coupled
with decrepit infrastructure, have also been found to be behind several, with
companies usually forced to pay for a cleanup operation and for compensation to
the locals affected.
The Government is now considering
passing laws which would impose harsher fines on those responsible, meaning
many Western-owned businesses could incur fines totalling tens of millions of
dollars every year.
Vast stretches of the delta's unique
mangrove swamps, home to some of the planet's rarest wildlife, are blackened
and dead from oil pollution.
According to the Huffington Post, ENI said in a statement:
'During loading operations on a tanker on Nov.
27, an oil spill in the sea was
seen. Operations were immediately suspended and resumed only after it was
verified that the vessel's structures were not damaged and were not leaking.'
Francis Clinton Tubo Ikagi, chairman
of the Odioama fishing community in Bayelsa, where a large part of the Niger
river fans out through creeks into the Atlantic, told journalists on the scene
that he saw a large oil slick on Nov. 20.
'I saw a very thick layer of crude
oil on the river,' he said. 'The community is affected seriously. Our women and
men whose main livelihood source is fishing are complaining bitterly to us that
the whole river is full of oil.'
In 2011, the Nigerian government
said there had been more than 7,000 oil spills in the country between 1970 and
2000 that could take up to 30 years and $1billion to clean up.
In Nigeria's Akwa Ibom State, an
ExxonMobil pipeline ruptured on May 1 2010 and spilled over a million gallons
of oil. The leak continued for seven days before it was stopped.
In December 2011 there was another
spill near the coast of Nigeria, and was was reported as 'likely the worst to
hit those waters in a decade.'
After two days, it had affected 115
miles (185 kilometers) of Nigerian coastline. Several days after the December
20 spill, Shell reported that the leak -- which occurred about 75 miles
offshore -- had been contained before it reached the Nigerian coast.
The spill, which covered 350 square
miles of ocean at its peak, was reported as having released less than '40,000
barrels -- or 1.68 million gallons' of oil.
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