Oil company cuts production in Nigeria following attack
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - April 21, 2008 The Nigerian attack, and a missile attack Monday on Japanese oil
tanker off the east coast of Yemen, sent oil prices spiking to a
record 117.40 a barrel.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND,
said in a statement that fighters hit two pipelines it believes to
be a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Chevron Corp.
in southern Rivers state.
The group also called for former President Jimmy Carter to help
mediate an end to the crisis.
Shell officials had no immediate information on any attack and
the Nigerian military battle group that patrols the oil region's
waterways said it had no reports of overnight violence. Officials
from Chevron could not immediately be reached for comment.
The militants last week claimed a separate attack on a pipeline
operated by a Shell joint venture that the company said shut down a
small amount of oil production.
The militants say they are stepping up their activities after
the arrest of one of their leaders, Henry Okah, who is on trial for
terrorism and treason.
The militants also called for mediation by Carter with the aim
of ending the long-running crisis that government-led peace parleys
have so far failed to control. The militants have also asked
President Bush and actor George Clooney for their involvement, but
said they have received no reply.
"MEND expressed its willingness to embrace a genuine and
transparent peace program without getting any response. The ripple
effect of this attack will touch your economy and people one way or
the other and hope we now have your attention," it said.
The militant group emerged in early 2006, launching bombing
attacks on Nigeria's oil infrastructure that cut about one quarter
of the usual oil output in Africa's biggest crude producer. That
has helped send oil prices to all-time highs.
The militants want the release of their leaders from prison, and
for more oil industry revenue for their areas, which remain deeply
poor despite the natural bounty.
But crime and militancy are closely interwoven in the southern
Niger Delta where the crude is pumped. Many of the various armed
groups in the region have had links to local politicians, who
helped arm and direct the gunmen in their efforts to rig elections.
Both militants and government officials are suspected of heavy
involvement in the theft and resale of crude oil, which oil
industry officials brings revenues that run into the millions of
dollars per day.
Nigeria's vast network of oil pipelines crisscross the swamps
and creeks in the Niger Delta and are easily sabotaged. But the
militants haven't recently shown the sophisticated, military-style
raids on staffed oil infrastructure that made them the most
potent-ever militant group in southern Nigeria.
The militants' activities appear to have moved further into the
propaganda realm, with demands on international figures linked to
external news events. Carter was in the Middle East on Monday.