Pipeline Explosion in Nigeria (26 Dec 06)

I included the date because it happens a lot in Nigeria.

Pipeline gets holed by thieves, everyone wants some free fuel, source of ignition, large casualty list. There is certain Darwin Award aspect to this but unfortunately I expect children who don't know any better are among the dead.

BBC- Lagos Pipeline Explosion

They do things differently in Nigeria. Check the fireman pictures.

 

Nigeria, yet another formally rich African country which is now poverty stricken because of corruption and misrule.

 

If it werent for the Natural resources that Nigeria has that the West covets,then this wouldnt happen!!!

 

andym wrote

What? Were those who broke into the pipe trying to stop the Nigerian natural resources leaving Nigeria along this pipe? Sorry for the casualties not involved in the theft but that is the least reasonable attempt to shift blame I've heard.

Worthy of HMG. Or were you being sarcastic?

 

I wasnt being sarcastic at all.Ever since the Oil Companies have plundered Nigeria(along with their Govts consent)the Oil pipelines have ben targets for radical groups and poverty stricken locals.it would have been simple to avoid this by having the pipeline underground but then that costs more $ doesnt it,plus i REALLY wonder how much value the Oil Companies actually put on the locals lives?Very little i'll warrant,massive areas of lang has been devatated and ruined for decades to come by the OC's and for what?Just so another few $$$ worth of Black Gold heads west!

 

A subject close to my heart Andy. If people could see the antics that Shell has been up to in the Niger Delta at places like Warri and Bonny they would be amazed. The quality of the oil is so good that Bonny Light is a bench-mark crude and could be run through a simple filter and used as diesel. The locals used to hack-saw into the lines constantly because there was no other way for them to get fuel. Any suggestions to Shell that they set up water-wells or fuel-points in the Delta and offer some economic help to the disenfranchised majority was a waste of breath.

The country is corrupt from top to bottom, with gazillionaire politicians sitting at the top and a destitute mass of people below. They went from being net exporters of food to net importers of food in half a generation and the oil companies have always taken the view that if they paid dash [bribes] to the politicians then the army could keep the lid on any insurrection. I fear not.

RM

 

It's a tragedy but perhaps hardly surprising in a country with such visible extremes of wealth and poverty and the corruption associated with misrule...

...or could it be a sign from God that's he's angry with Peter Akinola apparently acting as "surrogate" Archbishop of Canterbury to Diocese outside Nigeria? Or of remaining silent about some Nigerian Christians having more than one wife contrary to Bible teaching?

Tut, tut, tut.

 

Got to agree with Bergen on this subject, the corruption in Nigeria is pretty bad, the oil companies do little or nothing for the locals and the Nigerian powers that be seem to syphon off a lot of money. Pipeline "hacking" is a regular occurence over there and elsewhere as well ( remember seeing this guy in Mongolia, a huge plastic balloon on his bike - filled with gas and smoking a tab! ), and as we've all seen, the kidnapping of oil workers from installations. The last one wasn't so long ago with two crane operators from Sparrows being held, but thankfully freed.
If some of the money generated from the sale of the hydrocarbons was chanelled back into the local economies the standard of health/living would improve, a lot of fresh water wells are completely contaminated due to failure to clean up after spill,leaks etc from the pipelines and onshore wellheads.
I've never actually worked over there, nor will I. The stories you hear about the place (even if only a quarter true) are enough to put you off. i have a rule of thumb for drilling - if it ends in "ia" or "stan" count me out!! Seems to work.
Thankfully the areas of the world where I have drilled (even third world), I have seen with my own eyes the benefits that can happen to the locals when the Operator has a conscious.

Al the Mud

 

I don't think Nigeria ever recovered from the Tribal war that kicked off in '67. Another Commonwealth Member who we were coerced into giving independence too early.

 

The oil companies kick back plenty of money to the country, it is just that the government (yawn, here we go again) are not giving it to the people. The oil companies are also supposed to employ so many Nigerians and the problem is that they are an incredibly lazy and corrupt people (in general).
Anyone who works regularly in Africa knows what it is like in places such as Nigeria and Angola, non stop theivery and corruption starts before you even hit passport control, I have recently refused to work there anymore.
Sorry for any kids that died, but how dumb are people that hack into an oil line?

 

I've also witnessed the African man at "work", bearing in mind that most work is done by the women. Corruption and straight theft is a way of life. Example; Police/Customs screening on leaving the Gambia: "you leaving my Country now, you not need spare batteries for camera. I will take?" Most visitors feel intimidated by a stern looking ka**ir with a side arm and gladly don't argue. Same happens with unused local currency. If he can't eat it or f**k it, he'll steal it or break it.

Always sad to see people in poverty but some are just born to it.

 

As far as I am concerned Africa is a lost cause. When the African took over their country (Whichever country, Kenya, South Africa, Rhodesia)from the white man the state of the country in general was prosperous and the population healthy.
It had taken the Black African (and I am not being racist) less than 40 years to put Africa back 200 years. Tribalism and corruption being the causes.
I now no longer donate any money to Africa, it is indeed a bottomless pit, rich and corrupt leaders syphoning off most of the aid.

 

Biggest problem was the european powers creating countries on a whim. Political borders that cut across tribal boundaries were a sure recipe for disaster and the handing over of the reins of power to cliques meant that the people would never have a chance. Nigeria is a British creation and is typical of the post-colonial chaos left behind in the rush to abandon empire. The few countries that did stand a chance were sold down the river by european governments who were far happier to have corrupt black despots than honest white minorities in government.

That being said, most West African corruption is confined to the big cities. Out in the rural areas there are decent hard-working people who will work hard if they are led properly. However there is little leadership and what leadership there is is totally corrupt.

The oil-companies are another story; imagine for a moment living in the middle of bum-fcuk nowhere in a village that hasn't changed in hundreds of years.....overnight an oil terminal appears.....lots of white guys who appear to be the richest people on earth behind fences and barbed wire. They have electricity, doctors, toilets and fresh running water. The village has nothing. The area has nothing. No schools. No wells. There is a lot of resentment being bred.

I was down on the Brass River at an oil camp and there was an enormous amount of friction with the locals. We ended this friction by interfacing and helping the villagers. For a few thousand dollars we had a well drilled and a genny up and running. Guys would come back from leave with old clothes and schoolbooks for the village. Up at Forcados where Shell had an operation the villagers were treated like pigs.......fishing nets ripped up by supply boats, oil-spills into their fresh-water systems, villagers on one side of the wire and Shell on the other. If the villagers didn't like it then Shell just whistled up the Nigerian Army. Not good. For anyone that says Africa is a basket case, led by corrupt politicians I agree wholeheartedly but we should always look beyond the obvious and examine root causes.

On a slightly cheerier note and because whatever happens in the world usually has a Royal Marine connection:

The biggest local village on the Brass is called Spiffstown and in the village square is a statue of Brasso Spiff the founder. It is also the place where Royal Marines from HMS St. George landed in 1895 to give the locals a much needed spanking after they had overrun a trading-post at Akassa and killed 40 people. The Royal Marines issued a medal for the Brass River Campaign; Victoria on one side and an African battle scene on the other...and as Kipling wrote about the British wounded:-

" I came away like a bleedin' toff
For I had four n*ggers to carry me off
As I lay in the bight of a canvas trough
When the Widow gave a party".

RM