Mobil says oil spill off Nigerian coast largely dispersed

The Mobil oil company says that most of the oil that spilled from a pipelineinto waters off the south-east coast of Nigeria this week has been dispersed.

It said this had been the result of evaporation, natural dispersion and prompt clean-up action in the offshore area.

Boats and helicopters were mobilised to help disperse the forty-thousand barrel oil spill which came from a leak in a pipeline running from the Idoho offshore production platform to the Qua Iboe terminal in Akwa Ibom state.

The BBC correspondent in Nigeria says the spill re-awakened criticism by environmentalists who have accused foreign oil companies of paying less attention to standards in Nigeria than they might in the western world.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service