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By Jack Graham [[link removed]] | Deputy Editor, Funded Projects

Billion-dollar industry

In Lagos, Nigeria, a black market is thriving: Illegal oil.

When the government ended its fuel subsidies last year, domestic oil prices surged and Nigerians took to the streets in protest.

The sharp price rises also led to an increase in illegal oil refining – making it a billion-dollar industry.

Deep inside the mangrove forests of the Niger Delta, my colleagues Albert Han and Bukola Adebayo spoke to refiners [[link removed]] for a new mini-documentary.

Men work at an illegal oil refinery site near river Nun in Nigeria's oil state of Bayelsa November 27, 2012. REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye

One crew of five friends worked through the night to evade authorities, refining oil from crude stolen from pipelines. It's dangerous work. Thousands of young men use makeshift equipment, risking arrest and accidents.

"In a case where you have no options left, you always take risks to survive," said one of the men.

Illegal oil production is polluting the land, rivers and air. Oil spills linked to the illegal trade are hurting local fish supplies, farm yields and drinking water.

But youth unemployment is high, pushing more people into illegal oil refining - and on the run from a government clampdown.

Kicking it

The thing is, Nigeria doesn't have a shortage of resources.

The country is Africa's largest exporter of crude oil, yet most of it ends up getting exported and refined elsewhere – before being imported as more expensive products like gasoline and kerosene.

Experts say the benefits from Nigeria's oil resources have been reaped by major international companies and swallowed up by corruption. Its abundance of oil is often referred to as a curse: meant to bring wealth, instead it leads to poverty.

A person operates a tap of crude oil during the destruction of Bakana ii illegal camp, in Okrika, Rivers state, Nigeria January 28, 2022. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

Today, most of the country's revenues come from oil. The government is doubling down with a new refinery expected to meet all of Nigeria's domestic needs.

What will it take for the country to wean itself off the dirty fuel - whether it's illegally produced or not? And how quickly can communities shift to cleaner energy alternatives like solar power?

For now, with demand for oil not letting up, the black market shows few signs of stopping.

See you next week,

Jack

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Read all of our coverage here [[link removed]] Editor's pick [[link removed]] Meet the illegal oil refiners of Nigeria [[link removed]]

Oil destroyed their environment. Why are they still refining it?

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