Pipeline explosion kills 12 in Nigeria

ABUJA, July 10, 2015 – In a Friday statement, Eni announced that a pipeline explosion in Nigeria on Thursday afternoon killed 12 people and injured three others at a repair site. The Italian oil major stated that they are still investigating the cause of the explosion.

Among the deceased were the maintenance crew for a local services company working on repairing the crude oil pipeline on the Tebidaba-Clough Creek. The pipeline had previously been damaged due to acts of sabotage, mostly likely in an attempt to steal crude oil, which is not uncommon in Nigeria. According to Eni’s website, there have been 13 incidents related to pipeline theft in May alone with 17 in April and 14 in March.

Pipeline explosions have caused hundreds of deaths with 400 killed and dozens more injured in 2006 in two explosions. State-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation estimates that the country loses 300,000 barrels of oil a day to criminals stealing crude from the pipelines.

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