YENAGOA, Nigeria, June 24 (Reuters) - Nigerian soldiers havearrested eight people working for companies contracted by RoyalDutch Shell, military authorities said, following apipeline fire that the company blamed on damage caused by oilthieves.
Shell's Nigerian unit, Shell Petroleum Development Co. ofNigeria Ltd. (SPDC), shut the 150,000 barrel per day (bpd) TransNiger pipeline last week after an explosion and a fire in BodoWest, in Ogoniland, an area already heavily polluted by oilspills.
"Troops ... have arrested eight persons in connection withthe recent fire outbreak on an SPDC pipeline," Military JointTask Force (JTF) Spokesman Onyema Nwachukwu said on Monday.
"They will be handed over to an appropriate prosecutingagency if found culpable at the end of the investigations."
Shell said in a statement that it was aware of the arrestsand would "cooperate with the investigations".
The company has been pushing the government to make greaterefforts to combat stealing of oil - known locally as bunkering -which it blames for the theft of an estimated 150,000 bpd acrossthe industry in Nigeria and for repeated oil spills and fires.
The JTF said the eight people were found on tug boats nearthe pipeline and that the suspects told them they worked forSteve Integrated Technical Service and Sege Marine, companiesthat were hired by SPDC to fix broken pipelines.
"They are not bunkerers," a manager at Steve Integrated toldReuters, asking not to be named.
"There was no sign of stolen crude oil on the tug boat asthey were only working on repairs. We will continue to work withthe JTF," he added.
Sege Marine could not be contacted for comment.
Nigeria's accountant general said last week that oil theftand pipeline vandalism were responsible for a 5 percent fall inmonthly government revenues in May.