The Bloomberg reports some worrying stats relating to Nigeria’s crude oil output which they reported have hit its lowest since 1996.
This is due mostly to the activities of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) , who have taken to attacking oil installations with reckless abandon.
With the attacks on oil producing installations Oil prices are on turn responding, rising to their highest in more than six months.
Unfortunately, no solution seems to be forthcoming as the NDA might even go after deep water facilities too.
The NDA has so far forced Shell’s Forcados terminal to shut in about 250,000 barrels of daily exports; and also breached an offshore Chevron facility in the 160,000 barrels per day Escravos system.
The failure of the government to solve the root problem is speculated to be the reason for this wave of violence and attacks. The Yar’adua administration offered amnesty and a lot of funds to train Niger Delta occupants and secured lucrative contracts for top militants, but that was equivalent to using a machete to cut off weeds at the stem rather than the roots, so it was only a matter of time before another group (NDA) took up the mantle to fight the Federal government.
Yesterday it was reported that the British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond had warned Buhari of the consequences of using force against the militants as opposed to diplomacy. This is possibly why the Niger Delta Avengers are currently seeking for a sovereign Niger Delta separate from the rest of the nation.
According to Bloomberg, Exxon has had to declare force majeure on Qua Iboe exports after a drilling platform ran aground and ruptured a pipeline, while Shell did similar with Bonny Light exports after a leak from a pipeline feeding the terminal which has only served to heighten Nigeria’s oil woes.