1. Home
  2. West Africa
  3. Nigeria

Fire shuts down fuel stations

Shell oil SHELL
Shell
The Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell said on Friday that it has closed or partially closed three flow stations in Rivers State, southeastern Nigeria, following a fire. A Shell spokesman said that the fire, which broke out on Thursday morning, was probably started by illicit barge operators siphoning fuel at the sites. “An overfly of the affected area showed eight barges revealed as illegal bunkerers,” the spokesman told IRIN. Three of the barges were on fire at the time of the overfly on Thursday. On Friday morning, one was still alight, but the pipeline fire had been extinguished. The full or partial closure of the three flow stations has prevented the production of some 96,000 barrels of oil so far, he said. There have been no reports of casualties as a result of the incident.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

Share this article

Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian

Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

Join