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Samples from illegal refineries in Niger delta found to be of a higher quality than imported petrol in new analysisBlack market fuel made from stolen oil in rudimentary “bush” refineries hidden deep in the creeks and swamps of the Niger delta is less polluting than the highly toxic diesel and petrol that Europe exports to Nigeria, new laboratory analysis has found.Shell, Exxon, Chevron and...

Toxic fumes and repiratory disease among hazards facing people reliant on informal processing plants for work and fuelBlack pools, long trenches and charred earth have become common sights in the fields of north-west Syria, signs of an informal oil economy that has developed during the war.Despite damaging both the environment and health, up to 5,000 backyard oil refineries, crucial to the livelihoods of besieged...

Chief representative of Quechua communities in north Peru urges OECD to support battle against ‘the tainting of land and rivers’An Amazonian leader has travelled from Peru to the Netherlands to lodge a complaint with the global trade watchdog about an Amsterdam-based oil firm, demanding that the company clean up decades of pollution from his people’s lands. .Aurelio Chino has accused Pluspetrol of using “letterbox”...

As villagers in Somali region fall ill in unexplained circumstances, some locals fear gas exploration has tainted the local water supplyAt first, 23-year-old Khadar Abdi Abdullahi’s eyes began turning yellow. Then the palms of his hands did the same. Soon he was bleeding from his nose, and from his mouth, and his body was swelling all over. Eventually he collapsed with fever. He later...