Nigeria Oil Producers Agree to Set Up Fund to Cover Costs of Oil Spills
International oil companies operating in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region agreed to set up a fund to cover the costs of oil spills, the country’s environment minister said.
There were about 3,000 reported cases of spills between 2006 and 2010 in the delta region, where most of Nigeria’s oil fields are located, minister John Odey said in a statement e- mailed by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency.
Nigeria is Africa’s top oil producer and the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., Total SA and Eni SpA run joint ventures with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. to pump the country’s crude.
State governors from the southern oil-producing region in June asked President Goodluck Jonathan’s government to implement tougher regulations on energy companies, saying that oil-spills and pollution have caused extensive damage to the environment.
Energy companies say most of the spills recorded in the delta in recent years were caused by criminal gangs who steal crude from pipelines.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja at ebalagbogbo@bloomberg.net
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