Nigeria is amongst one of the largest producers of oil , Nigeria comes at number 4 for producing crude oil but what makes it's oil different to other regions ? Crude oil extracted from Nigeria is very pure even in crude conditions so diesel or petrol extraction from this pure curde oil is not hard a simple distillation process will spew out large amount of petrol , diesel and kerosene in small time which can be extracted in homemade refinery well not exactly near the home but deep inside the Niger delta mangroves which have thousands of small streams and land in between them which easily hides the illegal oil refineries within them .
The work is dangerous.
They have to be extremely careful to ensure the waste product - gas - does not ignite and cause an inferno.
False pipes'
But how wise is it to allow lawlessness to continue in an already neglected, fragile region of Nigeria so critical to the nation's economy?
There is concern about the environmental damage oil spills cause to the region
The government is setting up a task force which will also include officials from oil companies as well as the military.
But few analysts expect concrete action - too many people are benefiting, including former militants.
The oil companies' hands are tied, as they do not have the power to arrest anyone or to intervene.
They have to rely on the military response, which is clearly ineffective.
It is widely believed that powerful politicians are also involved in the business.
Shell says in an effort to stop the theft it is now constructing its new pipelines 4m underground and is covering them with a slab of concrete.
It is also laying pipes within "false pipes" to make the work of the men with hacksaws harder.
Dotted along the creek were dozens of large drums used for boiling up the crude oil.
They had pipes protruding from them leading to troughs into which the products are collected; kerosene and petrol for the local market and diesel which is taken away on barges or inland on trucks by tackers .
Most of the stolen crude is pumped straight from the pipeline onto barges which then transfer the valuable load onto ships waiting off shore - an operation known as bunkering. These ships then head to refineries around the world.
this illegal refinery are spewing out a lot of oil and usually steal from big oil company pipelines like ' shell ' which are breached in night time and they fill up their small boats with it and then clear out big chunk of forest and make a illegal refinery and then purify the oil .
Oil prices on street is usually 3o cents and oil company sells them in ' 3 dollar per litre ' which is expensive these refinery are spewing out a lot of wastage from these oil and dumped in the river and the ravine are heavily damaged with oil the plants in area are turned to black with soil which was also some people's life line , also fishes are completely gone or polluted satellite and Arial survey shows a lot of oil above the water surface completely changed the river face with a lot of petrol stinks and crude oil everywhere ,
many people have their daily wages 200 percent higher in these refinery due to lucrative business many people are dragged in they get 300 dollars in a day 3 times monthly wage of common nigerian jobs but the cost on environment is very high and damaging the niger delta very very fast and a matter of concern ' Black gold rush ' is destroying the environment very fast . Do watch documentary below for full clarity :