Chevron Corp.’s (NYSE: CVX) onshore activities in Nigeria’s Niger Delta have been shut down by a militant attack at its Escravos terminal, a company source said on May 26.
Advertisement
The NDA, the most high-profile group to emerge recently in the increasingly volatile Niger delta, has launched a series of attacks in recent months that have choked output from oil giants Chevron, Shell and ENI and helped push up global crude prices.
On Children’s Day in Nigeria, a militant group targeting energy groups in the Niger Delta said it would deliver more to the nation’s youth than the government.
Community leaders and peaceful activists this week sided with the militants, saying the people of Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta share their demands for a greater share of the country’s oil wealth. “To the IOC’s, Indigenous Oil Companies and Nigeria Military”.
He said it was also resolved at the meeting that all threats from the region should end because violence is not an option in resolving the problems of the Niger Delta.
Nigerian media report that Wednesday’s attack on the Escravos terminal has created a “massive oil spill emanating from the trunk line”.
On May 12, the militant group issued a two-week ultimatum to oil firms in the region to close or risk attacks, brushing aside the government’s threat to treat the militants as terrorists sabotaging the economy.
Although Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, has moved in army reinforcements in response to the attacks, however Philip Hammond, the British foreign secretary said that Mr. Buhari needs to deal with the root causes.
Unemployment in Nigeria rose to 12.1 percent in the first quarter from 10.4 percent in the previous three months. What we need is a sovereign state, not pipeline contracts. Some residents of the Delta sympathise with the militants in a region where poverty is rife yet large quantities of oil – comprising 70% of government revenues – are produced. “Another crude pipeline was attacked Thursday night near Batan oil field in Warri”, he said.
Currently, four Nigerian crude export grades – Qua Iboe, Bonny Light, Brass River and Forcados – are under force majeure. Their exit would not only save them but would also improve the economic conditions of the Delta residents, saving them from any further fright caused by the terrorist attacks.
Advertisement
There is some confusion as to who is sponsoring the NDA, with some southern MPs accusing the party of Buhari, a northerner, of stirring up a crisis to allow it to militarize the south.
