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TechnoratiOil prices rose sharply to day as news of yet another pipeline attack surfaced. This makes it the fourth pipeline destroyed this week. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claims responsibility. The four pipeline attacks so far have caused about 170,000 barrels per day (bpd) loss.
MEND said in an emailed statement today that the pipeline attacked belonged to a Royal Dutch Shell PLC joint venture. "Our candid advice to the oil majors is that they should not waste their time repairing any lines as we will continue to sabotage them," warned MEND spokesman Jomo Gbomo in the statement. "We have time on our side and there is so much to be destroyed."
The attack took place at Kula in Rivers state around 10:18 pm local time on Thursday, where explosives were detonated by MEND fighters, according to MEND's statement. So far it seems MEND is making good on its campaign to cripple Nigeria's oil exports. Rainer Winzenried, a Shell spokesman based in The Hague, reports that the damaged pipeline fed oil to Nigeria's Bonny Light export terminal.
"I don't know what's driving this new wave of militancy," said Petroleum Minister of State H. Odein Ajumogobia. "Its one day. We'll take each day as it comes." Despite the threats, Ajumogobia assured, "Efforts are being made around the clock" to fix the damaged pipelines.
Workers Strike
In an interview in Abuja, Ajumogobia said he had attended a meeting with union leaders today to take steps toward ending the workers strike against Exxon Mobil's Nigeria unit. Though there hasn't been a definite answer, he expects to hear back from them this evening.
The Exxon Mobil strike has caused a 765,000 bpd loss, according to an estimate of a union official, creating a combined 935,000 bpd loss for Africa's biggest oil producer. In March, oil production was at roughly 2 million bpd. These combined losses raised oil prices as high as $119.65USD today.
Olusola George-Olumoroti, chairman of the branch of the Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PEGASSAN), the organization taking action against Exxon, said that about 90% of Exxon's output of 850,000 bpd has been shut down. He believes that the entire production will be halted before the day is over.
Comments
Not very good news, all the daily bombing and kidnapping in the Niger Delta. It makes our potentially great country look like a banana case. However, when injustice is so glaring as it is factually the case in the Niger Delta, radicals take over from the moderates. Saro,Wiwa went around the world writing and making speeches at all international fora to bring attention to the Niger Delta issues. He was sentenced to death by hanging. The new boys on the block don't care for speeches. The barrel of the gun is the new language, explosives the new grammar, kidnappings, the new syntax. It's a whole new world. Any solutions out there to this cancer? Dialogue, dialogue and dialogue. The past president dialogued treacherously. Who will they trust now? The international community ought to be involved to give confidence to these folks. We still have time to forestall and avert a full blown wakkadoodoo. Let's give peace a chance and very quickly too. We in diaspora don't want to come home for the same reasons that foreign investors don't want to come in. The Nigerian math does not just add up. All said, I am a firm believer in the manifest pre-eminent destiny of Nigeria in world affairs but it seems to me that we ought to try organizing local government elections that are free and fair and independent of Governor's influence. Perhaps this may hold some solution as it will bring development to the grassroots truly and help keep the boys occupied earning a living. I get worked up about the seeming lack of will to do what is right by the Nigerian people by the people who for the most part have imposed themselves on us but I must say goodbye for now.
If one strike can do 5 times more damage than 4 consecutive pipleline explosions, then the militants don't have as much power as they think.