Nigeria: August 26, 2003

Archives

After years of looking the other way, the navy is cracking down on ships that smuggle stolen oil out of the country. Gangs steal the oil from storage areas and pipeline and move it by truck or barrel to ships or motorized barges that take the oil to nearby countries and sell it. An estimated 6-7 million gallons of crude oil a day are thought to be stolen in this way. The smugglers can get 10-30 cents a gallon for the crude, and even more for refined oil (gasoline or kerosene), which sells for about a dollar a gallon. This makes such theft attractive for many Nigerians (who are lucky to live on a few dollars a day.) In the past three weeks, four ships and one motorized barge have been seized, and many more vessels checked. 

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close