Royal Dutch Shell PLC says one of its pipelines running through Nigeria’s oil-rich southern delta has spilled crude oil in the region, causing unknown damage.
Shell issued a statement yesterday saying the spill on its subsidiary Adibawa pipeline was discovered on Saturday.
The company said it had sent out a team which had stopped the leak and was now looking at the damage and trying to clean up the spill.
The pipeline was part of its Okordia-Rumuekpe line that runs through Bayelsa state. A fire struck that line earlier this month, as Shell says spills come from oil thefts the majority of the time.
Oil spills remain common in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, more than 50 years after the country saw its first well open. Nigeria is a major supplier of crude oil to the US.