Low-level Oil Conflicts Rage On Nigeria's Delta

[NATO AIR]

this is going to continue to be a major problem, and will only get even worse as the islamists take over the northern half's institutions...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/22/AR2005092201455.html

Followers Threaten Oil Facilities in Key Producing Region

By Craig Timberg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, September 23, 2005; Page A14

ABUJA, Nigeria, Sept. 22 -- Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, a separatist leader in Nigeria's oil-producing south, was brought before a federal court here Thursday on charges of treason--a crime that carries the death penalty--while his angry followers reportedly seized at least one facility that controls oil pipeline flows.

The confrontation between Nigerian authorities and radical activists from the impoverished Niger Delta could put new pressure on global oil prices at a time when the destruction from Hurricane Katrina in the United States already is pushing prices toward historic highs.

In the delta, activists took control of at least one oil flow station, owned by the U.S. oil firm Chevron, and threatened more disruption. Police have sent reinforcements to Port Harcourt, the delta's largest city. Royal Dutch Shell, the region's largest oil company, evacuated nonessential staff.

Alali Horsfall, Dokubo-Asari's second-in-command in the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, said by cell phone Thursday that he and a force of 6,000 men, armed with machetes and dynamite, had taken over 10 oil flow stations and would not abandon them until their leader was freed from custody.

Horsfall declined to give his exact location, saying only that he was "in the swamp" somewhere in Rivers state. He said his group had confronted police but no one had been injured. He said that if police tried to retake the facilities by force, his group would begin to blow them up.

It was not clear whether the group was capable of causing widespread damage to the delta's oil production facilities. The region has dozens of flow stations, many protected by armed soldiers and police.

An army spokesman, Col. Yusuf Mohammed, said he believed only the Chevron facility had been seized. He said soldiers guarding it put down their weapons rather than "conduct a war with our own citizens." He said peace had returned to other areas of the delta, where protests erupted Tuesday after Dokubo-Asari was arrested.

Lisa Givert, a spokeswoman for Shell, said from London that the company knew of no takeovers of its flow stations. "Oil and gas production has not been affected," she said.

The Niger Delta exports 2.4 million barrels of oil a day, and Nigeria is the fifth-largest exporter of oil to the United States.

Dokubo-Asari, speaking to reporters after appearing in court in this capital city, accused President Olusegun Obasanjo of being a dictator. Obasanjo, who has held office since 1999, became Nigeria's first elected leader after decades of military rule.

"If this is what Obasanjo claims is democracy, it is the highest dictatorship," Dokubo-Asari said, according to the Reuters news agency.

A judge ordered him kept in custody at least until formal charges were brought at another court hearing, probably in two weeks. His arrest Tuesday came after an article in the Daily Independent newspaper quoted him as saying, "Nigeria is an evil entity. . . . I will continue to fight and try to see that Nigeria dissolves and disintegrates."

Dokubo-Asari is a heavyset, flamboyant man who often has boasted that he could shut down the region's oil flow with a few calls to supporters working in the industry.

He drives an elegant black SUV and carries a heavy walking stick, a traditional symbol of authority in Nigeria. Some of his youthful followers live in camps hidden among the delta's web of waterways.

A year ago, he issued a declaration of war against the oil industry, sending oil prices to record highs. But rather than being arrested or charged with a crime, he was flown here for negotiations with Obasanjo that eased the standoff.

In an interview with The Washington Post last year, Dokubo-Asari said, "It is only violence that makes the tyrant listen."

It was not clear why authorities decided to act now against Dokubo-Asari, who has long advocated autonomy for areas dominated by his Ijaw tribe.

The abundance of oil in the delta, where most residents live in abject poverty, has long been a source of tension and violent clashes. Many local politicians control armed gangs, which often clash over oil facilities and siphon gas by tapping directly into pipelines.

A well-known delta leader, Ken Saro-Wiwa of the Ogoni tribe, was hanged in 1995 with eight other activists by Gen. Sani Abacha, then the leader of Nigeria.

 

[waltky]

Get ready for a hike in gas prices...

Shell Nigeria May Shut Oil Pipeline Due to Thefts
March 04, 2013 - Shell may be forced to completely shut down its 150,000 barrel per day Nembe Creek oil pipeline in Nigeria due to an "unprecedented" amount of oil theft, the company's local unit said on Monday.

The Nembe trunkline is one of the most important production routes for Africa's top crude oil exporter, feeding the benchmark Bonny Light export terminal. The pipeline was replaced in 2010 at a cost of $1.1 billion, Shell says. A spokesman for Nigerian security forces in the oil-producing Niger Delta said they were having successes against oil thieves. He denied that there was any surge in theft along the Nembe line, accusing Shell of failing to seal leaks.

Criminal gangs frequently tap into exposed pipelines in the winding creeks and waterways in the Niger Delta. Some of the crude is refined locally but the majority is transferred onto larger ships offshore and sold internationally. Oil theft also has a devastating environmental impact, destroying fishing communities and poisoning water used for drinking and bathing in parts of the Niger Delta.

A warning sign belonging to the company Royal Dutch Shell is seen along the Nembe creek in Nigeria's oil state of Bayelsa

Flows stations on the pipeline were shut down three times between Feb. 22 and Feb. 25 due to thefts, with each incident deferring 150,000 bpd of production, Shell said in a statement. "It is getting to the crunch that rather than allow people to continue to attack my pipeline and devastate the environment, I may actually consider shutting in the pipeline completely," Shell Nigeria managing director Mutiu Sunmonu said. "...The situation in the last few weeks is unprecedented. The volume being stolen is the highest in the last three years; over 60,000 bpd from Shell alone," he said. Even taking the theft into account, shutting the pipeline would be a drastic move that would cost Shell up to 150,000 bpd of production revenues.

Lieutenant Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu, a spokesman for Nigerian forces in the Niger Delta, said a crackdown on oil theft meant it was on the decrease, adding nearly 2,000 suspects had been arrested since it was launched last year and more than twice as many illegal refineries destroyed. More than 100 oil barges had also been destroyed, he said. "It's therefore quite difficult to reconcile the upsurge [in oil theft] spoken of by SPDC [Shell Petroleum Development Corporation] given these record achievements," he said. "The JTF [joint task force] does not have the man power to put operatives permanently on over 6000km of pipeline."

MORE

 

[waltky]

Corruption in oil markets is rife in Nigeria...

Report: Oil Theft in Nigeria Has Worldwide Impact
September 19, 2013 — In Nigeria, stolen crude oil flows out of the Niger Delta at breathtaking rates, landing in markets in Nigeria and around the world. A new study by London-based think tank Chatham House says it is not just the Nigerian authorities that are to blame.

At a Niger Delta market Anna Arube sells black-market petrol from jerrycans for about 80 cents a liter. She pays the police about $3 a month not to get arrested. Even so, Arube says, the job is not without its dangers. “They should be careful over this business that we are doing because there is risk, do you understand?” – asks Arube.

The biggest risk is the flammable nature of her product, she says. But there is very little risk of authorities clamping down. Until 2009, militants in the Niger Delta battled the government and oil companies, saying they were fighting for the people’s right to the oil on their land. Since then, the region has quieted, but oil theft and kidnapping are still rampant.

A man carries oil canisters at an illegal refinery site in Nigeria's oil state of Bayelsa

Oil theft ‘deeply engrained’

A new Chatham House report says 100,000 barrels of oil are stolen daily from the Niger Delta, about five percent of the two million plus barrel per day output. Some analysts put the total amount of stolen oil much higher, at 400,000 barrels a day. Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow John Campbell, a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, says the problem is endemic. “The heart of the matter is oil theft is deeply engrained now in the fabric of the Niger Delta and I would suggest [in] Nigerian life generally," says Campbell.

The report says military and government officials, militants, oil executives, crime rings, and communities all profit from oil theft. The report adds oil theft in Nigeria impacts economies around the world as big-time thieves launder money in foreign countries and stolen oil disrupts the markets. Foreign buyers, it says, should at least be researching the issue to see what they can do about regulating stolen oil in their own countries. The report also suggests legal means, like lawsuits and tracking regulation, to slow the flow of stolen oil. But the report also warns many possible actions the international community could take, like sanctions or regulating oil sales, could worsen the situation.

Outside intervention ‘unrealistic’

See also:

At Least 87 Killed in Militant Attack in Nigeria
September 19, 2013 - Nigerian officials spent Thursday collecting corpses in northeastern Nigeria where Islamist Boko Haram militants killed at least 87 people during an attack earlier this week.

The insurgents, disguised in military uniforms, burned scores of homes and buildings during the onslaught late Tuesday. Saidu Yakuba of the Environmental Protection Agency in Borno state said Thursday 87 bodies had been recovered so far and officials were still searching for more dead. Another officer of the agency said 143 bodies had been recovered.

A villager speaks standing next to the governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima (C), during Shettima's visit to Benisheik, on September 19, 2013, after a violent attack by Boko Haram Islamists kills at least 87 people.

Officials said Boko Haram militants set up checkpoints and gunned down civilians trying to flee to safety. The group says it is fighting to impose a strict form of Islamic law on Nigeria's Muslim-majority north. The group has been blamed for thousands of deaths since launching an uprising against the government in 2009.

Borno is one of three northeastern states where President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency and deployed additional troops in May to fight Boko Haram. Rights groups have criticized the military for heavy-handed operations they say have led to hundreds more deaths.

At Least 87 Killed in Militant Attack in Nigeria

 

[waltky]

Bloodbath in Nigeria...

Nigeria: Scores Killed in Battle With Islamists
December 24, 2013 — Nigeria's military said on Tuesday it had killed at least 50 Islamist rebels fleeing towards Cameroon in a battle in which 15 of its own soldiers and five civilians also died. Nigerian forces have stepped up an offensive in the volatile northeast in the past few days, after Boko Haram fighters armed with grenade launchers and anti-aircraft guns attacked an army barracks in the town of Bama on Friday.

Boko Haram is fighting to revive a medieval Islamic caliphate in today's religiously-mixed Nigeria, a major oil producer and one of Africa's largest economies. The group rarely talks to the media but occasionally sends video statements anonymously. The military often reports significant casualties among insurgents, while rarely admitting losses among its own troops or civilians. The figures it gave for Monday's battle near the Cameroon border could not immediately be verified. Defense spokesman Brigadier General Chris Olukolade said the military had targeted insurgents behind Friday's Bama attack and that 20 vehicles used in that raid had been spotted from the air and destroyed.

"Although a good number of the insurgents escaped with bullet wounds, while some have been arrested, over 50 of them died in the course of exchange of fire with ground troops in the operations to apprehend fleeing terrorists," he said. Thousands have died violent deaths since Boko Haram launched an uprising 2009, but the past few months have been the most violent, with hundreds of civilians killed by the insurgents since August. Some details on the toll from the Bama attack emerged from Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, the main mortuary for the region.

An attendant told Reuters Friday's attack left at least 20 soldiers dead. The military had not disclosed any death toll from the attack. "There is no space left in the mortuary because the military brought in more than 20 dead soldiers killed in the Bama attack," the mortuary attendant, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak, said. "These four were left on the floor as we're waiting for space to be created before we put them in," he added, gesturing to four bodies wrapped in shrouds.

President Goodluck Jonathan last month extended a state of emergency in areas worst affected by the insurgency. The military began an offensive in May that initially drove the Islamists from large parts of the northeast, but they fell back into the hilly area of Gwoza, near the Cameroon border, from where they have launched deadly counter-attacks. Boko Haram is still seen as the main security threat to Nigeria, Africa's leading energy producer. The group claimed responsibility for a coordinated strike on Dec. 2 on the air force base and military barracks in the main northeastern city of Maiduguri in the first major assault on the heavily guarded city this year.

Nigeria: Scores Killed in Battle With Islamists