The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said that nearly $250m worth of oil was stolen between January and September from a single Nigerian pipeline running north-east from Lagos to the city of Ilorin, BBC reported.

The Pipelines and Product Marketing Company, an NNPC’s subsidiary, said that “incessant hacking” of the System 2B pipeline has “made the task of providing seamless flow of petroleum products to retail outlets more burdensome,” Afp reported.

The company said it was working to resolve the issue.

Nigeria is Africa’s number one oil exporter.

The country, however, imports petrol due to lacking domestic refining capacity, which causes fuel shortages.