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.
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