On Monday, two oil wells owned and run by the Nigerian business Eroton Exploration and Production Limited caught fire. Despite the efforts of the company to employ a contractor to put out the fire, it was still blazing on Tuesday.

The contractor was recruited by the agency in charge of locating oil. It was not immediately apparent whether this was the same region where a well operated by Eroton spewed oil and gas into the Niger Delta for more than a week in June. The incident occurred within that time.

Through the Nembe Creek Trunkline, Eroton can extract crude from the Oil Mining Lease 18 block it owns and then exports it.

According to reports from the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), the blaze started at two wells in the state of Rivers, which is located in the Niger Delta. A boat thought to have been involved in the theft of crude oil was reduced to ashes by fire.

“The firm has mobilised a vendor, which is due to arrive at the incident area today, October 4, 2022, to extinguish the blazing fire from the wells,” Idris Musa, head of NOSDRA, said in a statement. “The agency will oversee the work accordingly.”

In the oil-producing region of the Niger Delta, where crude output has been hampered by theft and vandalism of pipelines, oil leaks are a typical occurrence, which harms Nigeria’s export profits.