Nigeria's network of more than 3,125 miles of pipelines crisscrossing the oil-producing country has become a favorite target of local communities cashing in on a thriving black market for refined products. Villagers said thieves punctured the pipeline carrying refined petroleum products from Warri to northern Nigeria Sunday night. Adeje resident Monday Ochuko said the explosion may have been sparked by a separate fire started at another location close to where the pipeline had been ruptured, or by accidental ignition as villagers scrambled for gushing gasoline. Industry officials say gasoline theft had become such a booming business in southern Nigeria that it now involves people using road tankers. One official said the tanker drivers puncture the pipeline and pump gasoline into their vehicles and then drive off, leaving fuel gushing out.
Villagers then come in with their buckets and jerry cans.
Although OPEC member Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer, it has been plagued by shortages of petroleum products. Its four refineries have been run down by years of corrupt rule by soldiers who relinquished power last year. It has been modified to transport refined products following a prolonged shutdown of NNPC's 110,000 barrels per day Kaduna refinery for repairs. President Olusegun Obasanjo who came to office in May 1999 has set up a special task force of soldiers and police backed by helicopters to protect pipelines.