By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, August 22, 6:35 PM
LAGOS, Nigeria Six recent oil spills from a Royal Dutch Shell PLC pipeline running through Nigerias oil-rich southern delta were the result of sabotage, the company said Monday, blaming another nearby spill on a similar attack.
Shells comments come after someone set fire to the spreading spill in recent days, and as a U.N. report suggests it could take as much as 30 years to clean another region of the countrys Niger Delta.
Shell has blamed the majority of recent spills on oil thieves and militants roaming the deltas winding creeks. Environmentalists and locals blame the oil company for 50 years of poverty and pollution there.