The president of Nigeria is looking for help in developing a system that would track oil in the same fashion as blood diamonds.

From the AP (via the Washington Post):

Nigeria’s president called Thursday for help finding a way to fingerprint crude oil stocks in order to combat the theft and lucrative overseas sale of unrefined petroleum, aiming at stopping the flow of “blood oil” from Africa’s biggest producers.

Umaru Yar’Adua said in a statement released by the presidency that he envisions a scheme similar to the tracking system used to cut back on the export of so-called “blood diamonds” that has long fueled African wars.

Nigerian militants, criminals and corrupt government officials are finding a lucrative trade in crude oil illegally siphoned from Nigeria’s petroleum infrastructure and battles over the vast proceeds are helping keep the southern oil region in chaos.

Yar Adua hopes to be able to find a chemical that could be placed into legitimately refined oil that would prevent buyers from purchasing stolen oil.

According to the report, up to $20 million of oil is smuggled and lost each day in Nigeria.