Niger Delta Bunkering

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not ever man's greed."

Shot from a helicopter in Nigeria by J.Harry Edmiston

Every day, oil companies in Nigeria lose between 300,000 and 400,000 barrels of oil to illegal theft, which accounts for roughly 15 percent of Nigeria's 2.4 million barrels per day produced. Oil export revenue accounts for 70 percent of Nigeria’s total government revenue and 95 percent of the country’s export income. A loss of 300,000 barrels a day costs the government roughly $1.7 billion a month.

This oil theft, or “bunkering,” occurs throughout the Niger Delta, where pipelines crisscross the region. One common process requires tapping into an oil pipeline and transporting the oil elsewhere to be sold internationally or refined locally. In order to access the oil, a small group of welders will puncture a pipeline at night, establishing a tapping point from which the group can operate.

Roughly a quarter of stolen crude oil is sold locally. Illegal artisanal refineries located in the Delta “cook” the crude into separate petroleum products. The end product yields 2 percent petrol, 2 percent kerosene, and 41 percent diesel. The remaining 55 percent of crude goes to waste, most of which is dumped into the nearby water or into a shallow pit and is a major cause of significant river and land pollution, environmental degradation and increased criminality and insecurity in the region.

10% of NFT sale proceeds for this artwork will go to the the Niger Delta Partnership Initiative (NDPI) Foundation, an organisation that helps break the cycle of poverty and conflict in the region by creating strong and stable communities through economic development and peace building efforts.