Nigeria cracks down on illicit oil refineries

[TomSea]

Nigeria cracks down on illicit oil refineries
 AFP STEFAN HEUNIS

Nigerian commander Remi Fadairo points to the roiling plume of black smoke blotting the morning horizon in the Niger Delta -— the unmistakable sign of an illicit oil refinery.

"Let's see if we can go eat them for breakfast," he says with an ominous chuckle.

The 44-year-old colonel, a man with broad shoulders wearing his fatigues tucked into gumboots, is standing in the middle of a destroyed illicit refinery in Kana Rugbana, an area in the swamplands some 20 nautical miles from Port Harcourt.

Fadairo is part of the Joint Task Force Operation Delta Safe, a coalition of Nigerian security forces tasked with protecting the country's oil and gas infrastructure.

Continued: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/business/nigeria-cracks-down-on-illicit-oil-refineries/ar-BBAazVc

[Smokin Joe]

Likely distilling diesel fuel and selling it.

[thackney]

Likely distilling diesel fuel and selling it.

And dumping the harder to sell byproducts into the area groundwater.

The waste is dumped into the surrounding swamplands, turning what should be a wetland paradise into a monochrome nightmare dominated by the white skeletons of dead mangrove trees.

[Fishrrman]

That entire country must be a hellhole.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

That entire country must be a hellhole.

Most people I know who have visited Lagos only do it once.  They describe a feeling of lack of safety, particularly by the armed guard which escorts them from the airport to the camp.

[Smokin Joe]

Most people I know who have visited Lagos only do it once.  They describe a feeling of lack of safety, particularly by the armed guard which escorts them from the airport to the camp.

I declined an opportunity in 1981 to go over there. For the most part, I am glad I did.