Oil Spill Continues Unabated After Nine Days, Raising Fears of Fire and Further Contamination
Nigeria’s Trans Niger Pipeline, a critical oil artery that transports crude from onshore fields to the Bonny export terminal, has ruptured and spilled oil into the B-Dere community in Ogoniland, according to reports from environmental rights groups on Thursday.
The spill, which occurred on May 6, marks the second major incident affecting the pipeline in just two months. In March, the same pipeline was shut down following an explosion that triggered a fire. According to Nnimmo Bassey, executive director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation, the current spill remains uncontained nine days after the initial rupture.
“We are in a disaster zone and further disasters can erupt from even an accidental spark of fire,” Bassey warned, condemning the slow response as “unconscionable.” He called for immediate action, stating, “The fact that this spill that happened a week ago is yet to be stopped sends a very strong point to why the government should focus on cleaning up Ogoniland and not seek to open new oil wells. The old wells should be shut down, and decommissioned.”
Ogoniland, one of Africa’s earliest crude oil producing regions, has suffered from devastating oil pollution for decades. While profits have flowed to major oil companies and Nigerian state coffers, local residents have endured toxic contamination and received little compensation for the environmental damage to their communities. The Trans Niger Pipeline, with a capacity of approximately 450,000 barrels per day, is one of two critical conduits for exporting Nigeria’s premium Bonny Light crude. A prolonged outage could potentially force operators to declare force majeure on exports, impacting global supplies.
Nigerian oil consortium Renaissance Group, which recently acquired Shell’s former onshore subsidiary that operates the pipeline, confirmed the explosion and announced that investigators have been dispatched to determine the cause. The incident highlights the ongoing challenges facing Nigeria’s oil infrastructure, where pipeline sabotage and crude theft have driven major international oil companies including Shell, Exxon Mobil, Total, and Eni to divest their onshore and shallow-water assets in favor of deep-water operations.
Renaissance Group—comprising Nigerian exploration and production companies Aradel Energy, First E & P, Waltersmith, and ND Western, along with international energy group Petroline—completed the acquisition of Shell’s former onshore assets just two months ago in March 2025.
Source: reuters.com
