Total SA, Europe�s third largest oil company has said crude production in Nigeria is threatened by insecurity in the West African nation.
�We have decided with other oil companies, especially Shell, that the situation cannot continue like this over the long term,�� the Chief Executive Officer, Total, Christophe de Margerie, told reporters on Saturday on the sidelines of a conference in Aix-en-Provence.
�We need lasting solutions for this instability.�
Oil production, the mainstay of Nigeria�s economy, fell to 2.15million barrels a day in the first quarter from 2.34million barrels in the same period of 2006, the Central Bank of Nigeria on Saturday said.
The drop was caused by the �continued restiveness in the Niger Delta area,� which accounts for all the country�s oil output, it added.
More than 200 expatriates have been kidnapped since the start of last year by militants and other criminal groups in the oil-producing region.
A three-year-old British girl was abducted on July 5, the third child to be kidnapped in the area, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation.
A day before the girl�s kidnapping, Nigerian gunmen abducted five expatriate workers from a Lonestar rig that was working for Royal Dutch Shell Plc�s Nigerian venture in the Soku field.
Shell�s venture, the Shell Petroleum Development Co, pumps about half of Nigeria�s oil.
Almost two-thirds of the company�s daily production has been halted as a result of leaks, community disputes and militant attacks.