21st September 2008
Nigeria’s main militant group has declared a ceasefire, following a week of attacks on oil installations in the country’s oil-rich Niger Delta.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said it had taken the decision after appeals from tribal leaders in the region.
But it warned it would end the truce if attacked by the army again.
Mend declared “war” on Nigeria’s oil industry last Sunday after a fierce military raid on one of its bases.
Mend vowed to “continue to nibble every day at the oil infrastructure in Nigeria until the oil exports reach zero”.
“The military and the government of Nigeria whose unprovoked attack on our position prompted this oil war are no match for a guerrilla insurgency of this kind,” it said in a statement.
In the past week, militants have attacked gas plants, oil installations and pipelines in some of the worst violence for two years. [note mainstream news report language]
The attacks forced oil giant Shell to declare a force majeure on Saturday – which frees it from contractual obligations – on crude oil shipments from its Niger Delta facilities.
Nigeria’s oil production has been cut by 20% because of unrest in the region over the past few years.
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MEND ”attacks oil facilities” in response to military offensive
Declaring an ”oil war” in response to Saturday’s attacks on its bases by the military, Nigerian oil region’s largest militant group said Sunday it had carried out ”deadly attacks” on the oil industry in Rivers state.
In a statement e-mailed to the media, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said the attacks, which it tagged ”Hurricane Barbarossa”, were carried out on the Soku Gas Plant, part of Nigeria’s Liquefied Natural Gas project and the Chevron Platform in Kula, among others.
It also said the MEND fighters killed over 22 soldiers.
Reacting to the claim, the spokesman for the Joint Task Force military unit in Rivers state, Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, confirmed the MEND attacks on the facilities, which he tagged ”flamboyant attacks”, in the early hours of Sunday.
Musa said the militants met ”active resistance from the troops guarding the facilities, ”with casualty on the miscreants’ side”.
He said no soldier was killed while only one soldier was wounded, saying any information to the contrary was ”mischievous propaganda”.
In its statement, MEND said: ”About 0100 Hrs, today, September 14, 2008, Hurricane Barbarossa commenced with heavily armed fighters in hundreds of war boats filing out from different MEND bases across the Niger Delta in solidarity to carry out destructive and deadly attacks on the oil industry in Rivers state.
”By dawn, destroyed oil flow stations, gun boats, burst pipelines, dead and injured soldiers trailed in the aftermath of the ‘hurricane’. Some specific locations include the Soku Gas Plant, Chevron Platform at Kula, over 22 well armed soldiers sent as reinforcement were intercepted, killed and dispossessed of their weapons, a major crude trunk pipeline at Nembe creek was blown up at several points,” MEND claimed.
It said the operation would continue until the government of Nigeria ”appreciates that the solution to peace in the Niger Delta is justice, respect and dialogue”.
MEND warned all international oil and gas loading vessels entering the region to drop anchor in the high sea or divert elsewhere until further notice, saying failure to comply is ”taking a foolhardy risk of attack and destruction of the vessel”.
It also repeated its call on oil companies operating in the Niger Delta to evacuate their staff from their field facilities, adding that the brief was not to capture hostages but to bring those structures to the ground.
On Saturday, MEND said the military launched a massive ‘aerial and marine attacks’ on its bases in the oil region, leaving seven militants dead and several others wounded.
It also claimed that some of the 22 oil workers taken hostage by pirates last week but rescued by MEND were injured in the fighting. The 22 workers include 5 expatriates from Britain, South Africa and Ukraine.
Musa also confirmed Saturday’s attacks, which he said were in response to an earlier attack on a military patrol by the militants.
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Shell Facility comes under Attack in “Oil War”
MEND, militantsOil multinational Shell, has again suffered a major set back following an attack in on its oil facility in Rivers state—Nigeria’s oil region—by a prominent Niger Delta militant group, MEND, on Monday.
The attack is coming a day after the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) declared “an oil war” in the oil-rich region.
MEND says that the attack is a response to what it describes as unprovoked aerial and marine attacks by the Nigerian Army on one of its position.
Spokesman of the Joint Military Task Force in Rivers State, Lieutenant-Colonel Sagir Musa says that the facility was attacked and set alight just after midnight with “dynamite and other explosives,” but “the attack was beaten back.
Colonel Musa says an exchange of gunfire pitted armed men who arrived on a dozen or so speedboats against a Joint Military Task Force.
The most prominent militant group in oil-rich southern Nigeria on Sunday said it had declared an “oil war” and threatened all international industry vessels that approach the region.
MEND said in an email to the media it has code-named its operation Hurricane Barbarossa, completely razed down the Shell Alakiri oil flow station.
“About 0100 Hrs, today … Hurricane Barbarossa commenced with heavily armed fighters in hundreds of war boats filing out from different MEND bases across the Niger Delta in solidarity to carry out destructive and deadly attacks on the oil industry in Rivers state,” the group said.
The “war” was in response to what it says were unprovoked aerial and marine attacks by the army Saturday on one of its positions.
Lieutenant-Colonel Sagir, earlier Sunday confirmed what he said was an aborted attack on the Robertkiri facility operated in Rivers state by US oil giant Chevron.
Chevron confirmed a shooting incident at the Robertkiri facility but said it did not have information to suggest the attack was directed specifically at the company. It said no expatriate workers were involved in the incident and production was not impacted.
“As a result of on-going pipeline repair work the Robertkiri facility … had been shut-in prior to the incident. The shooting incident has not had any additional impact on current levels of … production,” company spokesman Scott Walker said in an email.
MEND however, said that during the Chevron attack it “intercepted, killed and dispossessed of their weapons 22 well armed soldiers” who were sent in as reinforcements.
Chevron said that while none of its employees was hurt as a result of the shooting, initial reports suggest that two employees of a local marine vessel supply company, Dahnariq Nigeria Ltd – which supplies small vessels to Chevron – might have died.
Royal Dutch Shell said it was still investigating reports of the attacks on its facilities.
“The operation will continue until the government of Nigeria appreciates that the solution to peace in the Niger Delta is justice, respect and dialogue,” MEND said.
The group warned all vessels to stay on the high seas and not to come into port. The Niger Delta is an area of creeks and swamps the size of Scotland located on the Gulf of Guinea.
“All international oil and gas loading vessels entering the region are warned to drop anchor in the high sea or divert elsewhere until further notice. Failure to comply is taking a foolhardy risk of attack and destruction of the vessel.”
It also reiterated the warning it issued Saturday to oil companies telling them to evacuate their staff from field facilities.
“Again, we are asking that oil companies evacuate their staff from their field facilities because the brief is not to capture hostages but to bring these structures to the ground,” MEND said.
MEND has made similar dramatic threats in the past about destroying oil facilities and halting oil exports from the region totally but has not so far made good on them, although it has kept up its campaign of kidnappings and sabotage.
Technically however the group is capable of very ambitious attacks. In June its fighters attacked Bonga, Shell’s flagship field, 120 kilometres (74 miles) off the coast of Nigeria. Until that attack deepMEND, Niger Delta offshore facilities had been thought to be out of reach of militant groups.
Earlier this week, President Umaru Yar’Adua announced the creation of a ministry for the Niger Delta, in an attempt to bring peace to the region.
The militants dismissed the plan, saying 40 other ministries in existence, have done little to improve life for Nigerians.
The kidnapping of oil workers and sabotage of oil facilities have reduced the country’s crude production by about a quarter over the past two years, which currently exports around two million barrels of oil daily.
Unrest in the Niger Delta cost Nigeria its position as Africa’s biggest oil producer. In April it was overtaken by Angola, according to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
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MEND Fighters Destroy Shell Facility In Dawn Raid
Less than 12 hours after militants kidnapped Professor Barinenme Fakae, the Vice Chancellor of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, RSUST, at about 7 p.m., last night, in Ogoni, while returning to Port Harcourt, militants, in 10 speedboats, attacked Shell flow station at Alakiri, at about 1235 a.m., today, in an operation” Hurricane Barbarossa”, September 15, 2008.
According to MEND, in statement posted online to PMNews, in Port Harcourt, the attack is part of its “continued destructive sweep through Rivers state of Nigeria.”
The group added: “the eye of the storm struck a direct hit at the expansive Alakiri flow station complex operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company.The facility was still burning when we left.”
However, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, the spokesman of the Joint Military Taskforce, JTF, spoke on the early morning attack, confirming that the attack lasted for about an hour.
He said the militants carried out the operation with the massive use of bombs, dynamites and other weapons of war. Lt. Sagir Musa said that the attack was repelled and the militants suffered heavy casualties. He, however, feared that the flowstation must have caught fire “as a result of the crossfire during the encounter.”
He claimed that there was no casualty on the side of the JTF. Because of the trecherous terrain and the difficulty in getting authentic information as to the true casualties in the battle between the militants and the JTF, there has been a propaganda war. About atwo weeks ago, the militants claimed that they killed 26 soldiers, but the army headquarters said it was a lie and that none of its bases was attacked.
It’s really difficult to get independent confirmation in terms of casualties as usually claimed. But Jomo Gbomo, the spokesman for MEND, claimed that “heavily armed fighters from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta stormed the facility and have razed it to the ground as promised. The foolhardy workers and soldiers who did not heed our warning perished inside the station.
“Resistance was nonexistent as the soldiers fled their dug-in positions, leaving behind their colleagues and the workers inside the facility to their fate.”
The MEND spokesman further cautioned those in the oil industry to steer clear of all oil facilities in the region because of the”Oil War” it has declared against the Federal Government for allowing its troops to bomb its base at Elem-Tombia, in Degema Local Government area on Saturday, 13 September.
The camp is owned by a popular militia leader known as FARAH. MEND further warned that “A word is enough for the wise. MEND reiterates its previous warnings to ALL oil workers in the entire Niger Delta region to evacuate from oil facilities and halt production with immediate effect or they will have themselves to blame.”
The militant group called on “the wives of soldiers to convince their husbands to abandon this duty of injustice to avoid becoming widows. Families of oil workers should offer the same advice. International vessels should not come in to load crude oil. Owners of such vessels should be warned that the vessels will suffer the same fate of the Alakiri flow station. Hostages will not be taken. Do not be deceived. The Nigerian military cannot protect you.”
Earlier at the weekend, against the backdrop of military bombardment of Elem-Tombia, the camp of a gang leader, George Farah, at about 9a.m., Saturday, that led to unconfirmed casualties, the group said it has declared all out oil war tagged “Hurricane Barbarossa” in the region.
The group’s spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, in an e-mail to PMNews in Port Harcourt, said that the operation was in solidarity with its camp that that was bombarded by the Joint Task Force.
According to the online statement, “Following a previous warning that any attack on our positions will be tantamount to a declaration of an oil war, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has declared an oil war in response to the unprovoked aerial and marine attacks on a MEND position in Rivers state of Nigeria on September 13, 2008 by the armed forces of Nigeria.
“About 0100 Hrs, today, September 14, 2008, Hurricane Barbarossa commenced with heavily armed fighters in hundreds of war boats filing out from different MEND bases across the Niger Delta in solidarity to carry out destructive and deadly attacks on the oil industry in Rivers state. The group furher claimed that “By dawn, destroyed oil flow stations, gun boats, burst pipelines, dead and injured soldiers trailed in the aftermath of the ‘hurricane’.
“Some specific locations include the Soku Gas Plant, Chevron Platform at Kula, over 22 well armed soldiers sent as reinforcement were intercepted, killed and dispossessed of their weapons, a major crude trunk pipeline at Nembe creek was blown up at several points.”
MEND vowed that “The operation will continue until the government of Nigeria appreciates that the solution to peace in the Niger Delta is justice, respect and dialogue. This military-style bullying belongs to the past 50 years when the Niger Delta people responded only with their mouths, pens and placards.” MEND further stated: “All international oil and gas loading vessels entering the region are warned to drop anchor in the high sea or divert elsewhere until further notice. Failure to comply is taking a foolhardy risk of attack and destruction of the vessel. Again, we are asking that oil companies evacuate their staff from their field facilities because the brief is not to capture hostages but to bring these structures to the ground.”
Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, the spokesman for JTF, told a local radio station in Port Harcourt that it repelled an attempt by militants to attack the American oil giant, Chevron facility, in the Okrika area of Rivers State.
Meanwhile, Mr Blessing Wikina, the Acting Chief Press Secretary to Governor Chibuike Amaechi, has condemned the kidnap of Prof. Fakae last night and called for his unconditional release. Mr. Wikina told P.M.News in a telephone interview this morning that “the kidnap of an erudite Professor like the RSUST VC is a disservice to humanity and certainly not part Niger Delta struggle.”
He lamented that “for a VC who has been involved in human capacity building for our youths to face the challenges of tomorrow cannot have his freedom curtailed by the same youths he has been laboring for all his life as a university teacher from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka as a lecturer, Bori Polytechnic as a Provost and until recently, the VC of RSUST appointed by Governor Amaehi to change the fortunes of the instution.” No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnap.
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Nigerian militants launch new attacks in “oil war”
15 Sep 2008
Nigerian militants on Monday attacked oil facilities, killing a guard and forcing the evacuation of nearly 100 workers, in a third day of fighting with security forces that has disrupted oil output.
Security sources said the three days of clashes were the heaviest between the two sides since the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) launched a campaign of violence in early 2006 saying it wanted more local control of the impoverished region’s oil wealth.
MEND declared an “oil war” on Sunday and warned all oil workers to leave the delta immediately, threatening to disrupt production further in the world’s eighth largest oil exporter.
“MEND reiterates its previous warnings to all oil workers in the entire Niger Delta region to evacuate from oil facilities and halt production with immediate effect or they will have themselves to blame,” the group said in an e-mailed statement.
Two security sources in the oil industry, who did not want to be named, said more than 100 people may have been killed by the fighting, which has spread to at least seven villages in Rivers state.
Up to 115,000 barrels per day of oil production may have been halted since Saturday, government officials said. A fifth of the OPEC member’s oil output has already been shut down for the last two years due to the violence.
Oil traders shrugged off the news as prices briefly hit a seven-month low near $94 a barrel on Monday.
GUNBOAT ATTACK
Around 10 militant gunboats attacked a Royal Dutch Shell flow station and gas plant at Alakiri in Rivers state early Monday morning, a military spokesman said.
“The attack lasted over an hour. Dynamite and bombs were massively detonated by the miscreants,” said Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, spokesman for the military task force in Rivers state. “The situation is being closely monitored and is under control.”
A Shell spokeswoman said a security guard was killed and four other people were wounded in the attack.
The company has reduced the number of employees at some of its Nigerian oilfields, but it could not specify how many or from which fields due to security reasons.
An industry source said nearly 100 staff were evacuated from the facility.
Nigeria’s senior oil workers’ union PENGASSAN, representing around 25,000 employees, is considering the evacuation of its members in the Niger Delta due to security concerns, said Bayo Olowoshile, the group’s secretary general.
CASUALTIES
Musa said militants incurred heavy losses in the last three days and no soldiers had been killed. He would not specify the number of casualties. MEND said at least 22 soldiers and seven others were killed since Saturday. It was not possible to independently verify claims from either side.
The two oil industry security sources said the fighting involved the army, navy and air force.
“This is just the start of a major military offensive in the delta that is likely to continue for the next couple of weeks,” a security source said.
“The military has declined to say how many people have died in fear of whipping up public sentiment against them,” he added.
Musa on Sunday denied the military had launched a major offensive, saying it was responding to assaults from militants. MEND said the military attacks were unprovoked.
The Niger Delta is a vast network of narrow creeks and remote villages, and initial reports of fighting are often confused. The military and the militants regularly accuse each other of propaganda when clashes take place.
MEND has also attacked a Chevron oil platform and Shell-operated pipelines and gas plant in the last three days.
The deteriorating security situation in the delta, home to Nigeria’s oil sector, is considered to be the biggest hindrance to economic growth in Africa’s most populous country.
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MEND ”attacks” major oil pipeline as ‘oil war’ continues in Nigeria
16/09/2008
The ‘oil war’ declared by the Niger Delta’s largest militant group entered day four Tuesday with the group claiming a fresh attack on a major crude oil pipeline operated by Shell at Bakana Front in Degema council area of Rivers state Monday night.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which declared the war on Saturday in response to a military offensive against it, said in a statement e-mailed to the media Tuesday that the pipeline was destroyed by its ‘detonation engineers’ backed by heavily-armed fighters using ‘high explosives’.
The military Joint Task Force (JTF) operating in the oil region denied any attack took place.
But spokesman, Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, said the military thwarted an attempt by militants riding in six speed boats to attack Chevron’s Idama flow station at about 1am local time Tuesday.
”The attack was commendably and heroically thwarted by JTF troops on guard at the station. Three militants’ boats were shattered when own troops unwillingly used RPG to foil the attack. Two boats were sunk with all the occupants aboard,” Musa said, adding that only 1 soldier was wounded in attack.
Both sides have been making claims and counter-claims since the military launched aerial, land and sea attack on the militants’ position Saturday, saying it was only in response to attacks by the militants.
But sources said the military had decided to take on the militants to stop, once and for all, the threat they posed to oil production and peace in the restive region, where MEND’s attacks have slashed oil production by 20 per cent.
Since Saturday, MEND claimed to have attack several oil pipelines and facilities owned by Chevron, Shell and the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project, as part of an ‘oil war’ aimed at crippling Nigeria’s oil production.
Meanwhile, MEND said it would soon release the two South Africans who were kidnapped by pirates in the region last week, following an appeal from the wife of its leader Henry Okah, who is currently being tried in Nigeria for gun running, treason and other charges.
The South Africans were part of the 22 oil workers ‘rescued’ from kidnappers by MEND. Others include British, Ukrainian and Nigerian citizens.
”(Mrs.) Azuka Okah, who has arrived into Nigeria to personally press for their release, has informed us of the respect and hospitality she and her children have received in South Africa which she considers home, since the unjust incarceration of her husband in September 3, 2007.
”We are impressed by the South African government’s respect for the rule of law as some other countries such as Angola or Nigeria would have treated the family differently.
”In consideration of the above, MEND will be reciprocating the gesture by releasing the two hostages to the care of the South African government representative at the earliest convenience after working out the modalities, including safety concerns since the creek is now a war zone,” MEND said in a separate statement.
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MEND attacks Shell flow station as ‘oil war’ continues in Niger Delta
17/09/2008
Lagos, Nigeria – Militants using dynamites and bombs destroyed Shell’s Orubiri flow station in Rivers state in Nigeria’s Niger Delta oil region Tuesday night in continuation of the ‘oil war’ which they declared as a reprisal for the military offensive launched against them on Saturday.
A statement e-mailed to journalists by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said militants from the group as well as the rival Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF) carried out the attack at 2200hrs.
MEND said all the soldiers on guard at the facility were killed and that their houseboat was destroyed.
Spokesman for the Joint Task Force deployed to the region. Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, confirmed the attack in his own statement, but said no soldier was killed.
Musa said militants in eight speed boats attacked the facility and ”detonated dynamites, bombs and lobbed some pieces of hand grenade on the facility”.
”It is feared that the facility might have caught fire due to intense, sporadic gun shots and massive dynamites and bomb explosion,” the military spokesman said.
Meanwhile, MEND has repeated its warnings to oil companies to evacuate their staffers from facilities in the region, saying the operation – tagged Hurricane Barbarrosa – would soon spread from Rivers to other states in the region.
Tuesday night’s attack was the latest in a series launched by the region’s largest militant group since Saturday’s air, land and sea offensive against the rampaging militants, whose attacks have cut Nigeria’s oil production by one fifth.
The military has scoffed at the threat by the militants to cripple Nigeria’s oil production through their latest attacks, saying they (military) are capable of defending the territorial integrity of Nigeria from internal and external aggression.
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Militants Hit Shell Again, Destroy Another Pipeline
Less than 24 hours after the visit of top Defence Chiefs, led by Air Marshal Paul Dike, to military installations in Rivers state, MEND has allegedly bombed and destroyed a major pipeline at the Eleme-Kalabari Cawthorne Channel axis, belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC.
The group also stated that it has released two South African hostages earlier kidnapped by people the group called sea pirates, unharmed.
According to MEND spokesman, Jomo Gbomo: “At 18:30hrs today, September 18, 2008, fighters from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), using explosives destroyed a major pipeline belonging to Shell Development Company at the Eleme-Kalabari Cawthorne Channel axis in Rivers State of Nigeria.”
MEND further claimed that, “a gunboat patrol that happened to bump into the MEND fighters begged for their lives and showed their magazines to prove that they had not fired from their guns. They were spared and allowed to go, but not until after they had pledged loyalty to the struggle and denounced the criminality of the oil companies and the government.”
MEND accused Nigerian security agencies of lying that they had earlier secured the release of the South Africans abducted by sea pirates. The group stated that it “can categorically confirm that the two South African hostages rescued by MEND from sea pirates have been released unharmed today, September 18, 2008. The duo were handed over to government’s secret service officials, who will in turn hand them over to representatives of the South African High Commission in Port Harcourt, Rivers State of Nigeria.
“This genuine release puts to rest speculations and anxiety of the families and the people of South Africa caused by the false statement from the obtuse spokesman of the military Joint Task “Fraud” (JTF).
“In this case, the Army had hoped to cash in on a deliberate misinformation we put out and take the credit for a role they had no part in.” MEND, in two e-mails sent to P.M.News in Port Harcourt, stated that: “We have been wondering how foolish he must have looked when they could not produce the hostages they said were released without any ransom payment.”
The rebel group said the release of the South African hostages exposes the claims by the Army that it secured the release as untrue. “Nigerians and the world can now see that we have a military of deceit that have lied about their combat losses and gains, role in extra-judicial killings, rape, genocide and oil theft.”
As at press time P.M.News was not able to get an official reaction from the Joint Task Force spokesman, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, as calls to his mobile lines did not go through.
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Nigeria militants wage most intense oil war for years
Sept 20 – Nigerian militants said on Saturday they had destroyed another major oil pipeline in the Niger Delta after a week of the most intense attacks against Africa’s biggest oil and gas industry for years.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it had attacked a pipeline operated by Royal Dutch Shell at Buguma Front in Rivers state late on Friday and warned its campaign was not over.
A Shell spokeswoman in Nigeria said the company was investigating the claim, but gave no further details.
The Anglo-Dutch giant, the company hardest hit by the violence, declared a second force majeure on Bonny Light oil shipments on Friday following the week’s unrest but gave no details on production.
“MEND will continue to nibble every day at the oil infrastructure in Nigeria until the oil exports reach zero,” the group said in an e-mailed statement.
MEND fighters have hit pipelines, flow stations and oil and gas facilities in the Niger Delta every day since last Sunday, when the group declared an “oil war” in response to what it said were military ground and air strikes.
Shell operates onshore in Nigeria through its SPDC joint venture, of which it holds 30 percent while state oil firm NNPC holds 55 percent. Local subsidiaries of France’s Total and Italy’s Agip hold the rest.
Shell had already been forced to extend a force majeure on Nigerian Bonny Light exports, which frees it from contractual obligations, following an attack on a major pipeline in July.
Such intensity of attacks across the eastern Niger Delta, a vast network of mangrove creeks, makes assessing the impact difficult as engineers scramble to investigate exactly how much production has been hit in each location.
Nigerian government officials have said production has fallen by 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) over the past week, and estimate the country’s current output at 1.95 million bpd.
INTENSE AND SUSTAINED
The attacks this week have largely been limited to Rivers state in the eastern Niger Delta but MEND has warned it may extend its campaign to other areas on- and off-shore.
The violence has been the most intense and sustained since MEND first launched its campaign of sabotage in early 2006, and has included relatively rare direct confrontation with the army.
The world oil market, which has largely focused on the fallout from the credit crisis, has found some support from the situation. Prices traded above $100 on Friday.
MEND said it had launched this week’s campaign — an operation it calls “Hurricane Barbarossa” — in response to air and naval attacks on one of its bases in Rivers state.
“When (Rivers state governor Rotimi) Amaechi took over, the government just said that they must kill me and my boys,” one militant leader, Ateke Tom, told Reuters television this week.
“That is why we are fighting back,” he said, surrounded by heavily armed fighters.
The militants want greater development and a better living environment after decades of neglect in the delta, where impoverished villagers live among polluted land and water.
The unrest is fuelled by a lucrative trade in stolen oil worth millions of dollars a day.
Security experts say the region will never be stable unless an alternative source of income can be found for the gunmen, businessmen, politicians and international shippers all taking their slice of the illegal profits.
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Nigerian militants step up ‘oil war’ claiming sixth attack
September 20, 2008
Nigeria’s main armed militant group Saturday said it had destroyed a major pipeline run by Royal Dutch Shell in the sixth such attack in the past week as it vowed to paralyse the key oil sector.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the main group fighting for a greater share of southern Nigeria’s oil wealth for local people, said the attack took place on Friday on a “major pipeline” in Rivers state.
It said the pipeline was located at Buguma Front in the Asari Toru region and was the latest target of the “oil war” it launched on Sunday and has nicknamed “Hurricane Barbarossa.”
“The military and the government of Nigeria whose unprovoked attack on our position prompted this oil war are no match for a guerrilla insurgency of this kind,” it said.
The MEND on Saturday vowed to “continue to nibble every day at the oil infrastructure in Nigeria until the oil exports reach zero.”
Earlier in the week, Shell confirmed the first attack on its Alakiri flow station and a second on the Greater Port Harcourt Swamp Line, both on Monday.
As the week went on it became progressively more tight-lipped, neither confirming or denying claims of attacks on its Orubiri flow station, Rumuekpe pipeline and another pipeline at the Elem-Kalabari Cawthorne Channel axis in Rivers state.
Chevron meanwhile has confirmed two “shooting incidents” near its facilities whilst saying it has no reason to believe it was specifically targeted in either attack.
MEND, which has cut Nigeria’s oil output by more than one quarter since it first emerged in 2006, on Sunday declared “war” on the oil industry, in what it said was a response to an attack by the Nigerian army on its positions.
It has threatened to spread its raids to neighbouring states.
On Wednesday, in a rare daylight attack, MEND said it had blown up a major pipeline, which it said it believed belongs to Shell and to Agip of Italy.
The army and MEND have given conflicting version of many of the incidents, MEND normally saying the attack was successful and the army insisting it was repelled.
One of the main grouses of MEND is that the oil wealth of Nigeria, one of Africa’s top petroleum exporters, is basically enjoyed by the federal government and only a fraction of it trickles down to the locals.
It also accuses oil companies of wreaking havoc on the environment.
MEND spokesman Jomo Gbomo on Saturday claimed to have grassroots support.
“The impoverished and neglected inhabitants of oil producing communities consider our actions to these structures as good riddance to bad rubbish,” he said.
“Oil exploration has brought only pain to them by way of environmental damage (farmlands, fishing and wild life sanctuaries), harassment from the military and rape of under-aged girls by soldiers, extra-judicial killings of young men and development and wealth to other parts of the country at their detriment.”
MEND has also warned it will attack the country’s two big deep offshore fields, Shell’s Bonga — which was hit in June — and Chevron’s Agbami, as well as oil and gas tankers in Nigerian waters.
The latest attack claimed by MEND was cited as a factor in Friday’s rise in world oil prices to above 100 US dollars a barrel.
But analysts said the predominant reason was an improvement in market confidence after efforts to resolve the US-centred world financial crisis which brought predictions of further falls in oil demand.
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MEND Continues “Oil War” With Sixth Attack on Major Pipeline
The Movement Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in Niger Delta.for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta ( MEND ) Saturday said it had destroyed a key pipeline run by Royal Dutch Shell in the sixth attack in nearly as many days and vowed to reduce oil exports to “zero”.
Shell reacted by declaring force majeure on its exports from the Bonny terminal to release it from contractual delivery obligations as a result of the latest attacks.
MEND, the main group fighting for a greater share of southern Nigeria’s oil wealth for local people, said it had destroyed the “major pipeline” in Rivers state late Friday.
It said the pipeline was located at Buguma Front in the Asari Toru region and was the latest target of the “oil war” launched earlier this week and nicknamed “Hurricane Barbarossa”.
“The military and the government of Nigeria whose unprovoked attack on our position prompted this oil war are no match for a guerrilla insurgency of this kind”.
MEND promised to “continue to nibble every day at the oil infrastructure in Nigeria until the oil exports reach zero.”
Oil and gas account for 90 percent of foreign exchange earnings in the country.
Production currently veers between 1.8 and two million barrels a day against 2.6 million barrels two years ago.
Shell spokesman Precious Okolobo said Saturday, “We have declared force majeure as a result of the recent attacks on our facilities.” The action relates to Shell’s supply from Bonny.
He had earlier said he was checking the report of the latest incident, and refused to confirm the impact of the previous five attacks claimed by MEND, saying: “We do not comment on our daily production.”
Earlier in the week, Shell confirmed the first attack on its Alakiri flow station and a second on the Greater Port Harcourt Swamp Line, both on Monday.
As the week went on it became progressively more tight-lipped, neither confirming or denying claims of attacks on its Orubiri flow station, Rumuekpe pipeline and another pipeline at the Elem-Kalabari Cawthorne Channel axis in Rivers state.
MEND, which has cut Nigeria’s oil output by more than one quarter since it first emerged in 2006, on Sunday declared “war” on the oil industry, in what it said was a response to an attack by the Nigerian army on its positions.
It has threatened to spread its raids to neighbouring states.
The army and MEND have given conflicting version of many of the incidents, MEND normally saying the attack was successful and the army insisting it was repelled.
One of the main grouses of MEND is that the oil wealth of Nigeria — now Africa’s second largest petroleum exporter after recently falling from first place — is basically enjoyed by the federal government and only a fraction of it trickles down to the locals.
It also accuses oil companies of wreaking havoc on the environment.
MEND spokesman Jomo Gbomo on Saturday claimed to have grassroots support.
“The impoverished and neglected inhabitants of oil producing communities consider our actions to these structures as good riddance to bad rubbish,” he said.
“Oil exploration has brought only pain to them by way of environmental damage (farmlands, fishing and wild life sanctuaries), harassment from the military and rape of under-aged girls by soldiers, extra-judicial killings of young men and development and wealth to other parts of the country at their detriment.”
MEND has also warned it will attack the country’s two big deep offshore fields, Shell’s Bonga — which was hit in June — and Chevron’s Agbami, as well as oil and gas tankers in Nigerian waters.
The previous attack claimed by MEND was cited as a factor in Friday’s rise in world oil prices to above 100 dollars a barrel.
But analysts said the predominant reason was an improvement in market confidence after efforts to resolve the US-centred world financial crisis which brought predictions of further falls in oil demand.
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Nigerian militants end “oil war” after string of attacks (Roundup)
Sep 21, 2008
Nigeria’s most prominent militant group said Sunday it was calling a ceasefire after a week of attacks on oil installations in the restive Niger Delta province.
Jomo Gbomo, spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), told Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa that the ‘oil war’ it declared last Sunday was being called off after requests from local elders.
The militants attacked platforms, pipelines and oil flow-stations owned by Chevron, Shell and Agip during the week-long step-up in hostilities.
The group claimed to have killed dozens of soldiers during the attacks, although the military disputes the figures.
MEND launched the assaults after Nigerian troops pounded militant positions with gunships.
Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, a spokesman for the military in the Niger Delta, said that the government was open to an ‘amicable resolution of the crisis.’
‘We will continue to carefully and firmly monitor the situation and exercise a limited level of restraint until MEND’s new position is seen to have been actualized,’ he told dpa.
Militant groups such as MEND often attack oil installations and kidnap expatriate workers, saying they are fighting for a greater share of profits from oil exploitation for the poor of the region.
The government says they are merely criminal gangs intent on stealing oil and extorting money.
Prior to the latest string of attacks, the unrest had cut oil production by around a fifth since early 2006, helping to push up global oil prices and allowing Angola to surpass Nigeria as Africa’s biggest oil exporter.
Oil companies have yet to reveal by how much the latest attacks further cut production.
Gbomo also denied accusations by the Nigerian military that MEND was recruiting youths to replace those members killed in clashes.
However, he warned that further attacks by the military would spark a more ferocious response.
‘We hope that the military has learnt a bitter lesson,’ he said in a statement. ‘The next unprovoked attack will start another oil war that will be so ferocious that it will dim the pleas of the elders.’
9.10.2008
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