LAGOS – The US energy giant ExxonMobil has evacuated non-essential staff
from Nigeria’s largest oil export terminal amid fears it could be attacked by
armed militants, a company spokesman said Tuesday.
ExxonMobil’s Qua Iboe facility in southeastern Nigeria handles exports of
650,000 barrels per day, although the firm’s Nigerian spokesman Yemi Fakayejo
told Agence France-Presse that output had not yet been hit by the latest scare.
“We have evacuated non-essential workers from the Qua Iboe export terminal
following an intelligence report that Niger Delta militants were planning an
attack on oil facilities and personnel,” he said.
“This is a precautionary step… There is no disruption in oil production
and exports. Production is up and running and offshore and essential staff are
at the export terminal, working,” Fakayejo added.
Over the past three months separatist guerrillas have carried out a series
of attacks on Niger Delta oil facilities, forcing foreign multinationals to cut
Nigeria’s exports of around 2.5 mln barrels per day by around a quarter
Apr252006