On the roads of Benin, Africa,
You don't have to go to the gas station to refuel at all.
Street vendors can solve,
Whether it's a motorcycle or a car,
Even the big trucks and these vendors can satisfy you.
And they're not selling inferior gasoline.
It's the best gasoline that's been refined from crude oil.
Such roadside stalls are spread throughout Benin,
The reason why people like to refuel in the stalls,
And the reason is very simple, it's cheap.
A liter of gasoline at a gas station costs five dollars,
It only costs 55 cents on the stall,
Sometimes it can be reduced to 50 cents,
It's 10 times cheaper,
You ask the locals which one they will choose,
They say that fools spend money unjustly.
In Benin only public servants and rich people go to the gas station to refuel,
The staff of the gas station is very idle all year round,
Standing on the side of the road doing nothing,
And because of these oil stalls all over the country,
The government loses 200 million in taxes every year,
But after all these years,
But the government has not dared to ban these businesses.
Because it feeds nearly a quarter of the nation's population.
Among them are those who sell oil, who transport, who engage in production.
It can be said that it is the lifeblood of the whole people,
How did all this ridiculously cheap oil come from?
In fact, the vendors are the last chain of gasoline trading,
Its source also began with the smuggling of crude oil.
Benin's neighbour Nigeria,
is the seventh largest oil producer in the world,
And next to the romanian oil refinery,
There are a lot of gasoline smugglers hiding,
They risked their lives stealing crude oil from refinery pipelines,
And then after a series of brutal refinements and then sold to Benin,
Most of these smugglers hide in the water,
In the vast and dense mangrove forest,
Thick smoke often rises in the woods,
Occasionally there was a startling explosion,
That's the smugglers refining gasoline.
Pass a local guide,
The film crew is ready to explore the smuggler's lair,
But their boat had just sailed into the mangroves,
it was seen by some other smugglers,
Smugglers are very alert to strange faces,
Take the guy and surround it.
Black: Wait a minute, what the camera is doing here,
Give me your camera, why you brought white people here,
Will ruin our business.
After all, it's not a serious business.
The smugglers are afraid of the film crew getting into trouble,
Resolutely refused them to go in and shoot,
The film crew had to go to the village next door first.
This village was originally a farmer for a living.
Ever since the big oil companies came here,
Their land and rivers are polluted,
The villagers gradually embarked on the road of smuggling.
Within a few years,
The huts in the village became villas, and the dirt road became a cement road,
They're also a hitchhiker, and the bike has become a motorcycle.
One of the biggest smugglers in the area was named Paul,
At the request of the film crew,
He cheerfully agreed to take them on a tour,
But it's going to be until the evening.
On this day, under the cover of night,
Paul and his party sneak into the mangroves with a film crew.
There were fires everywhere along the way,
Exposed hundreds of smuggling points,
But it's hard for outsiders to find them.
Because the terrain on the water is very complicated,
Even the government has always wanted to crack them down.
In the end, they were helpless,
It was hard to come to the refinery point in the dark,
A pungent smell of gasoline came over me,
The tears of the film crew were going to flow down,
But the workers next to them did not change their color,
Workers put crude oil in gasoline barrels,
There was a pile of wood underneath,
A worker carefully lit the wood,
Crude oil extraction begins,
It works just like a distiller,
The heated steam reaches the cooler through the pipes,
After the cold zone, it returns to liquid and becomes gasoline.
Although the method is very simple and crude,
But because the quality of crude oil is good,
The gasoline extracted in this way is not bad,
The only fly in the ointment is that it is too dangerous,
Steam turns into gasoline, be careful,
Must be very careful,
It can be easily ignited,
Many people were killed in gasoline explosions again.
Workers must be completely naked when working,
Because steam will seep into clothes,
Once on fire it is difficult to get rid of,
But they can't afford any protective clothing.
The best way to do this is to leave no clothes on.
After finishing the evening work,
They slept in the camp next to them.
There are neither houses nor electricity in the camp,
A few people were huddled in a small tent.
Life is very hard,
But for them,
It's a rare good job.
They can make 120 bucks a night.
It doesn't seem to us much,
But this is three times the average wage in Romania,
They also said,
To let your children continue into this industry,
Because it's really hard to find other good jobs.
The next morning,
The film crew finally saw the whole picture of the camp,
It's actually a blank space.
Plus some rudimentary tools,
The workers have nothing to do with the entertainment,
There is only one small power generator,
Can charge the phone,
Now that the crude oil has been used up,
The next batch will not be shipped until the high tide,
Workers can take a short break.
And just then an accident happened suddenly,
The film crew was found by other smugglers,
Smugglers come to the door in a menacing manner,
Paul saw this and quickly protected the film crew,
But the situation is very not optimistic,
The smugglers were very dissatisfied with him,
Arguing and almost moving my hands,
They have real guys in their hands.
The atmosphere is also a touch,
In the end, the film crew had to leave first.
For these acts of smugglers,
In fact, it is also understandable,
After all, this is the industry on which they live.
Exposure can be dangerous
But on the boat back,
The film crew finally saw the situation around them,
It can be seen that under the pollution of oil,
The surrounding plants have dried up and turned black,
The water is also covered with a layer of oil film,
Obviously, the environment here has been seriously polluted.
And what causes this pollution,
Not just the smugglers' refineries,
There are also many foreign refining companies that emit private emissions,
The pipeline of the oil refining company extends directly into the river,
There is no one to regulate at all,
More than ten years ago, there were still abundant aquatic products in the water,
But now the fish are basically dead,
Can only catch some tenacious shrimp,
Old Vey was the last fisherman here,
Most of his companions turned to refiners,
He's the only one who's still insisting,
But it didn't last long.
Because the oil pollution here has become more and more serious.
There are many villages near the oil refining company,
The villagers were very happy when the company first arrived,
Because they get jobs and grants,
But soon the damage was on them,
Many people get skin cancer and die at a young age.
There are several water sources in the village,
Eating and washing clothes depend on this,
But they're all polluted by oil that's being excreted into the ground.
Looking around, it can be said that it is shocking,
And according to the local government's investigation,
Oil pollution has given the average lifespan here,
From 60 to 40,
In the end, oil only makes the capitalists rich,
It is these poor people who ultimately bear the consequences.
Under such capital oppression,
So naturally there are people who resist,
And back to Paul,
The previous crude oil has been used up,
He's going to the refinery now to get some new ones,
It may not be appropriate to use "take" this,
Because he doesn't pay at all,
Pumped directly from the refinery's pipeline.
And this road is very dangerous,
The refining company will hire some soldiers,
The heavily armed guards near the refinery,
Near the pipes around,
And the constant patrols of the military and police,
So daytime action certainly doesn't work,
Smugglers only start their adventures at night,
Since the film crew is not afraid of death,
Paul didn't care to take them with him.
The atmosphere along the way was very tense,
Paul prayed not to meet the police,
Usually they can bribe with money,
But now is the time for a strict investigation,
If you don't know, you may have to exchange fire,
Fortunately, the road was relatively smooth,
They soon reached a few kilometers away from the pipeline.
And then it's a lot easier.
Paul is not like any other smuggler,
Go directly to the pipe and make a small opening,
He has a secret docker,
This docking man installed a pipeline to extract crude oil,
Can be loaded directly onto Paul's boat,
Smugglers are directly using crude oil on ships,
Paul is no exception,
And his ship was specially modified,
Not only is the pressurization speed very fast,
Can go back and forth several times a night,
At the same time, in order to expand the transaction,
He also borrowed a barge this time.
Busy until three o'clock in the morning,
Paul finished his work with the others.
But on the way back Paul was very annoyed,
Because the barge is too big and the engine is not enough,
It takes three or four days to get back to camp,
But the workers are very blind,
Smoke on it from time to time,
This negligence could have cost several lives,
Paul could only see one scolding at a time.
After several days of arduous sailing they finally rushed back to the camp,
The camp is in full swing at this time,
It's not what we think.
The workers are not all uneducated peasants.
There were even several college students.
Although they have a high degree, they can't find a good job.
Only here can you make more money,
He said: Look at me, I'm a graduate, I don't have a job,
It's not work, it's life and death.
Next
The refined gasoline will be sent to the border 600 kilometers away,
It's a wasteland between Romania and Benin.
Smugglers have built an illegal port here,
The port is managed by specialized people,
They take a commission from every pass of gasoline,
Part of it is used to screen local officials,
This is a very complete industrial chain,
The daily flow of oil from Romania is endless,
But how much the manager refuses to penetrate,
Let's just say that the number is very large,
Gasoline is then transited here.
Among the countless transporters,
The motorcycle squad to which this glasses guy belongs is the most conspicuous,
The glasses guy has to transport gasoline from here every day to sell,
Before loading,
He skillfully washed the air out of the oil tank with his mouth,
Otherwise, if you touch the exhaust pipe, you may catch fire,
This knowledge was not taught to him,
All are lessons learned from the history of blood and tears.
Next on a little motorcycle,
He loaded him with 14 barrels of gasoline,
Exactly 700 ml,
When he sat up,
There's not even room to step on the engine.
Only by letting people help push can we set out,
And the danger along the way has just begun,
Motorcycle transporters like Brother Glasses,
It's basically a moving barrel of explosives.
Once the motorcycle falls and catches fire,
The consequences are catastrophic.
Every year, dozens of motorcycle drivers die in such accidents,
And such a high-risk industry,
The corresponding salary should be higher,
But in fact, the glasses brother transports 6 times a day,
The final income is only 30 yuan,
Compared to the risks he takes,
It's a very low income.
But in order to live he had to continue to take risks.
There are expert predictions,
Nigeria will be polluted by oil for decades.
Because there are enough reserves here,
And correspondingly, these oil smugglers,
And at least a few more decades of busy work,
Romania is the country with the largest number of oil smugglers in the world.
Not one of them yet,
For the nationals of their country,
Oil is both a blessing and a misfortune,
It can only be said that life is not easy It is lucky to live.