(I've seen columns for sale that fit on beer kegs for making ethanol)

http://www.stakeholderdemocracy.org/...tCriminals.pdf

Stage 4: Refining stolen crude into products
Stolen crude oil that is not shipped out of the Delta is refined locally
in camps. When it arrives by boat from the tapping point, camp
workers transfer the cold crude oil to a storage tank using a rubber
hose and pump. The most common storage tanks are large locally
made “GEEPEE” tanks. In some camps open-air pits are also used
for storing stolen crude. These pits are simply large holes dug in
the ground, clad with plastic or other synthetic material, hopefully
dense enough to stop oil from leaking out.
An average-sized camp employs 12-20 people, although larger
camps can employ far more. One Bayelsa camp operator said, “I
have an on boards-man who escorts my ‘black’ to my camp and
is paid N10,000 ($66) per trip”. Another in Rivers who pays more
said,
“I have an escort boat (deck man) paid N20,000 ($132) per
trip, my camp manager is paid N100,000 ($666) a month,
camp security is N2000 ($13) per person and I have three
people on security”.
One important observation at the refining camps was the wide
variety of people working there and well established practices.
There were young men and women (16 – 30 years old) working on
the refining process and typically older men and women (30 – 60
years old) managing the site, purchasing crude and distributing
refined products. The vast majority of the nine operations visited
were set-up as well run cottage industries.
The refining process uses a simplified version of fractional
distillation (locally called “cooking”), in which crude oil is heated
and condensed into separate petroleum products. Aspects of
the illegal refining process were also adapted from traditional gin
and palm wine distillation4. These artisanal techniques were first
developed during the Biafra war and further improved during the
height of armed militancy in the Niger Delta, particularly from
2005 to 2007.
Typical materials required for a refining camp include land with
river access, a main cooking “oven,” one or more storage facilities
(GEEPEE tanks), a cooling system, a sequence of drums (typically
metal or rubber drums and sometimes jerry cans), pipes, pumping
machines, and hoses. Most of these materials can be bought or
constructed locally. An informant from Delta State said, “The
equipment is everywhere. So we buy them from the market, and
also improvise in some cases.” One refiner listed his set-up materials
as: “Pumping machine, hose, galvanized pipe, 2 bundles of zinc,
12 by 1 board, 1 kg of Omo [laundry powder for washing drums],
pipe range, welder, 3 or 2 mm plate, GEEPEE tanks or containers.
Welders will use the 3 or 2mm plate to construct the oven.”
The refining process begins when the ‘black’ is heated in an ‘oven’,
burning crude oil to start the distillation process. This releases dense

4 Usually called kai-kai and ogogoro respectively

black clouds into the camp, which, if not kept under control by
sloshing water onto the fire under the oven, can cause explosions.
Much of the process is kept cool through cold-water pumps and
storage tanks. The vast extent of fire damage around the camps is
evidence enough of how highly explosive the practice can be.
The illegal refining process yields diesel, petrol, kerosene, bitumen
and waste products5. The yields of each product depend on the
refining methods and the geological properties of the particular
crude. Most Nigerian crude oil grades are heavily diesel-rich.

(cont)

-t