12 November 2012
LAGOS — Oil giant Shell said Sunday it had shut down a pipeline in southern Nigeria due to damage from oil thieves, causing a 25,000 barrel-per-day cut in crude production.
Shell’s Nigerian arm “has shut down the Imo River Trunkline in its eastern operations after it found several crude theft points on the facility. Production of some 25,000 barrels of oil per day is deferred,” a statement said.
The line was originally isolated on October 31 when the first set of leaking points was discovered, it said, adding that unknown persons installed more crude theft connections days later, bringing the total to six.
The Anglo-Dutch company said that there had been 26 spills in the Imo River area of southern Nigeria this year, 25 of which have been due to sabotage, causing the spill of about 3,000 barrels into the environment.
“Ground visits showed that the oil had impacted rivers and other water bodies even as we have managed to deploy containment booms and are now starting to recover spilled crude,” Shell vice president Tony Attah said.
Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, pumping between 2.0 and 2.4 million barrels per day in recent months. Shell has been the biggest operator in the country.
Pipeline damage and associated spills are common in the Niger Delta region as a result of oil theft to feed the lucrative black market.
Activists however say firms such as Shell do not do enough to prevent such spills and clean them up when they occur.
Militants claiming to be fighting for a fairer distribution of oil revenue have also regularly blown up pipelines in the past, though such attacks have greatly decreased since a 2009 amnesty deal.
Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
