Villagers report fresh oil spill from Shell pipeline

A rupture in a pipeline belonging to oil giant Royal Dutch/ Shell has resulted in a major oil slick in Nigeria’s southern Niger Delta, local residents reported on Friday.

Residents of Rumuekpe community, near the Nigeria’s oil industry capital, Port Harcourt, said oil from a broken pipe, 20 inches diameter, was spreading through creeks and streams in the area, seeping into farmland and destroying plants and trees.

"It is a serious disaster and, apparently, nothing urgent is being done to arrest it," Chuma Eke, who lives in the village, told IRIN. "Whole fishing areas, farmlands and sources of domestic water have been contaminated."

Shell officials confirmed the occurrence of a leak but said a team of spillage experts had been sent to deal with the problem. The spill was still confined to an area of about 40 square metres, they added.

Oil pollution and environmental degradation associated with oil production are key sources of conflict between oil companies and the impoverished communities of Nigeria’s southern oil region, with local people accusing oil transnationals and the Nigerian government of denying them access to the oil wealth produced on their land.

There has been an upsurge in protests in the region in recent months, with local people besieging oil production facilities and disrupting oil operations as part of a campaign to demand amenities and jobs.