(AFP) – Nigeria is currently losing 600,000 barrels of oil per day in the oil rich Niger Delta as a result of the activities of militants in the region, oil officials said here.
“The country is losing 600,000 barrels of oil per day in the Niger Delta because of the bitter battle militants are waging against the oil companies”, Funsho Kupolokun, Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) told reporters in Lagos.
Nigeria is the world’s sixth biggest exporter, accounting for a daily output of some 2.6 million barrels.
The Niger Delta is home to Nigeria’s multi-billion dollar oil and gas industry. The region has seen a resurgence in violent attacks on oil firms and personnel since the past two years.
More than 100 foreign workers have been kidnapped, but later released, while scores of Nigerian security personnel have been killed by militant groups or armed gangsters.
About the time the minister was speaking in Lagos, gunmen killed two police officers during an attempt to kidnap two foreign oil workers in southern Nigerian oil city of Port Harcourt, police said Friday.
The militant groups in the region claim to be fighting for a larger share of the country’s oil wealth for the local residents, but some of them also demand ransoms from oil firms before hostages are released.
The unrest in the delta has cut exports of crude from oil-rich Nigeria, Africa’s largest producer, by a quarter.