ABUJA, Nigeria

At least 100 people were killed in an overnight explosion at an illegal oil refining depot in Nigeria's Rivers state, local authorities said on Saturday. 

Goodluck Opiah, the state commissioner for petroleum resources, said in a statement that at least 100 people were burned to death in the fire that broke out after the explosion last night.

Nigeria has a large number of illegal oil refineries in Africa.

According to the government, the country lost 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day due to oil theft and vandalism.

A total of 25 people were killed in an explosion at an illegal oil refinery in the Nigerian state of Rivers last October. 

* Writing by Gozde Bayar