Nigerian legislators consider new fines on operators responsible for oil spills

Nigerian legislators are considering a law to impose new fines on operators responsible for oil spills, a measure that could face major foreign companies with penalties running into tens of millions of dollars a year. There are hundreds of leaks every year from pipelines that pass through the creeks and swamplands of the Niger Delta, damaging the environment and the profits of oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell and Italy's Eni, Reuters reported. Many of these spills are caused by oil theft and pipeline sabotage, a crime committed daily in the Niger Delta, where frustrations among millions of people in poverty run high.