Nigeria’s Trans Niger Pipeline, a key oil artery, has ruptured, spilling crude into the B-Dere community in Ogoniland.
The environmental rights group, Health of Mother Earth Foundation, reported the incident.
This marks the second incident affecting the pipeline in two months, following a March shutdown due to a blast and fire.
Nnimmo Bassey, the group’s director, stated the May 6 spill remains unchecked. He criticized the slow response as a lack of care and “unconscionable.”
Bassey warned of potential further disasters and urged focus on Ogoniland’s cleanup over new oil wells.
Ogoniland has suffered decades of oil pollution with limited benefits for locals.
The Nigerian oil consortium, Renaissance Group, confirmed the explosion and dispatched investigators.
The Trans Niger Pipeline has a 450,000 barrels per day capacity for Bonny Light crude exports. It is unclear if the pipeline has been shut down.
Prolonged outages could lead to a force majeure declaration on exports. Pipeline sabotage and theft have driven oil majors to sell onshore assets.
Renaissance Group acquired Shell’s former onshore subsidiary in March.