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NIGERIA: Oil spill affects five communities

LAGOS, 24 October (IRIN) - A crude oil pipeline belonging to Royal/Dutch Shell has ruptured in southern Nigeria's Delta State. The resulting oil slick has affected five communities, company officials said on Wednesday.

Godfrey Odigie, the Shell official in charge of the emergency response in the company's western division in the Niger Delta, said an estimated 300 barrels of crude oil have so far spilled from the pipeline delivering oil from its Batan facility to the Forcados export terminal on the Atlantic coast. Affected communities include Batan, Diebiri, Ajuju, Ewerigbene and Kumusi.

The official said all facilities delivering crude oil to the affected pipeline have been shut. Booms have also been put in place in the affected rivers and creeks to contain the spread of the spill, he added.

According to Shell, a joint investigation team comprising its officials, representatives of the Nigeria's Department of Petroleum Resources, the Delta State Environment Protection Agency, Federal Ministry of Environment and the police has been set up to find out the cause of the spill.

Shell had often blamed sabotage by locals aiming to receive compensation money for similar pipeline ruptures in the past. But the communities also alleged that most of the pipelines used by the oil companies were old and weakend by corrosion, making them susceptible to ruptures.

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