Nigeria�s crude oil production which currently hovers between 1.8 million and 2 million barrel per day has dropped further, as Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) yesterday shut in production of 130,000 barrels per day owing to an attack on its Nembe Creek trunk line.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) had last week vowed to renew pipeline attacks within 30 days in protest against a statement credited to the Acting Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Alhaji Abubakar Yar’Adua, that the corporation paid militants about $16 million to enable it access the damaged Chanomi Creek pipeline for repairs.
The corporation has since debunked the report, insisting that it paid the communities and not any militant group in order to have access to the pipeline.
Niger Delta militants had earlier blown up the Chanomi Creek pipeline, which feeds the Warri and Kaduna Refineries, in 2006. The development had forced the country to import all its petroleum products as the two refineries as well as the Port Harcourt Refinery were out of operation.
Although SPDC Nigeria spokesman, Mr. Precious Okolobo, did not respond to an inquiry by THISDAY for details on the latest incident which took place in the early hours of yesterday, a Shell spokesman, Rainer Winz-enried, confirmed the incident to Reuters, stating that the company was �working to ascertain the extent of damage, and had shut in some production to limit the amount of crude that will spill into the environment�.
Winzenried, according to the report published by Bloomberg, said a helicopter that surveyed the area yesterday confirmed that parts of SPDC’s Nembe Creek trunk line were damaged in the attacks.
Shell did not however state the volume of crude being held back but investigations revealed that the affected pipeline carries 130,000 barrels per day.
In an email statement yesterday, MEND claimed responsibility for the attack and said the incident occurred at 1:15 am.
MEND spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, who signed the statement, said the action was �in keeping with our pledge to resume pipeline attacks within the next 30 days�.
The Nembe Creek line was last attacked on May 26, prompting SPDC to declare a �force majeure� on Bonny Light crude exports for June and July.
Force majeure is a legal clause that allows producers to miss contracted deliveries because of circumstances beyond their control.
The company had declared a delay on 130,000 barrels a day of Bonny Light crude exports from the trunk line in early February after failing to repair damage detected in January.
About 20 per cent of Nigeria’s oil production had been shut-in since 2006 owing to repeated attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta region.
But for the incessant attacks, Nigeria has the capacity to produce about 3.2 million barrels of crude oil per day.
The crisis in the oil�rich region has not only impacted negatively on Nigeria�s economy as oil accounts for over 80 per cent of its foreign earnings.
The Royal Dutch Shell, which is the worst hit, before now produces half of the nation�s crude oil output, pumping in the region of 900,000 and 1 million barrel per day.
Although the company has always kept mum on the actual volume lost to these incessant crises, sources say the company currently may be producing below 500,000 barrels per day.
Shell Bonga field, Nigeria�s biggest offshore facility, was last month attacked by the same MEND, forcing the company to shut in production of 200,000 barrels per day.
The militants had boasted that the attack on Bonga field, located 120 kilometres (75 miles) offshore, was to remove any notion that offshore oil exploration is far from its reach.
It is not yet clear whether full production has commenced on the field.
Yesterday�s attack came just as the Nigerian Army ruled out the possibility of any military option in resolving the crisis in the region.
The Chief of Operations of the Nigerian Army, Maj-Gen. Mohammed Sani Sale, while representing the Chief of Army Staff at the annual Combat Support Arms Training (COSTA) in Kontagora, Niger State, said no matter the pressure in the region, the army would continue to apply minimal force.
Sale described the situation in the Niger Delta as warfare, where a weaker force is fighting a superior one, adding that �in this regards we can not use all our might to resolve the crisis in that area because it is a home land affair so you are required to use the minimum force�.
�It is an internal security issue which requires all elements of National power both diplomatic, military and economics to resolve and the military will continue to provide the enabling environment for the other element to work,� he said.
He maintained that no matter the situation in the oil-rich region, the army would not go beyond the use of minimum force, adding: �Ours is to stabilise the security situation there so that the government can work without stress and without pressure towards resolving the problem�.
He argued that the circumstance that led to the killing of the soldiers in Tegeleama community in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State was quite different from what happened in Odi community in 2005, pointing out that �Odi is an incident whereas what is happening in Niger Delta is a continuous thing�.
The British Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown, had promised to help the country tackle the Niger Delta crises.
Brown had told journalists at the G8 summit in Japan that his country would help Nigeria �deal with lawlessness� in the region – a statement that MEND believed meant military action.
The militants threatened that British interests and citizens in Nigeria would be in danger if Brown went ahead to provide military support �for the continued suppression and marginalisation of the region through destruction of lives and environment�.
MEND, in an e-mail signed by Gbomo Jomo, said they were going to hurt the interest of Britain which it accused of causing the problem that is currently haunting the country through its �divide and rule tactics which favoured a section of the country�.
The militant group claimed it was irked that at the G8 summit, Brown offered to help Nigeria militarily in the Niger Delta which they claimed amounted to lending a hand to the Nigerian government �to further the violation of their human rights.�
Jul292008