This briefing paper by Social Action highlights the challenges of addressing the enormous environmental and social costs of artisanal crude oil refineries and related crude oil theft in southern Nigeria. The briefing is based on a year of monitoring of artisanal refining sites and the responses of government agencies and the state security apparatus in Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa States. The Briefing concludes that security measures have been inadequate and often compounds pollution and human rights abuses. It recommends that effective policing of the creeks should be accompanied with actions to ameliorate the problem of inadequate access to energy services, scarcity and the high cost of consumer fuels, poor environmental standards of oil and gas companies, impoverishment and youth unemployment in communities, and corruption in the security services. Read Full Report