Oil giant Chevron’s
operations yesterday came under threat after another attack on its facility at
the 18-inch Abiteye line in Warri South-West council area of Delta State.
The
Nation report continues:
Members
of a militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), destroyed a major crude
oil facility, grounding Chevron’s swamp operations in the state.
The
NDA, in a tweet, claimed responsibility for the attack, which is bound to alter
oil production and, in effect, Nigeria’s revenue. The group tweeted: “We warned
Chevron, but they didn’t listen. @NDAvengers just blew up the Escravos tank
farm main electricity feed pipeline.”
The
NDA explained that the oil facilities were sabotaged following attempts by
Chevron to repair the main Escravos crude oil pipeline it blew up earlier.
Reuters
quoted sources as saying that the company’s onshore operations in the Niger
Delta had been shut down following the attack, which involved the main
electricity line leading to its Escravos terminal.
“It
is a crude line, which means all activities in Chevron are grounded,” the
source told Reuters.
After
the initial attack, the group had warned against moves to repair the facility
until their demands were fully met.
The
group’s spokesperson, Murdoch Agbinibo, had earlier this month warned the
government of further attacks if their demands were not met.
Last
week, Chevron’s Makaraba crude oil line was attacked on the offshore Okan
manifold.
The
attack followed previous ones on the company’s facilities at Abiteye, Utunana
and Makaraba platforms in Warri South-West area of Delta State, resulting in
the loss of over 40,000 barrels of oil per day.
Agip
pipelines have repeatedly been vandalized in Bayelsa and Delta states recently.
The
attack on pipelines and platforms cause daily loss of money amidst fall in
global oil prices. It could also lead to a worsening of electricity supply
because of its effect on gas supply. Most of Nigeria’s power plants use gas.
But
oil price has risen above US$50 a barrel — the first time in seven months.
The
Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) also faces the problem of
maintaining stability in the supply of petrol. It may lead to scarcity of products.
Residents
said an explosion occurred on Wednesday night.
A
community source, who had had an interaction with officials of the company,
confirmed that the attack had grounded Chevron’s swamp activities.
The
source said stakeholders from the state had been working on possible solutions
to the situation, which has adversely affected the national economy, adding
that those behind the attacks had been difficult to trail or identify.
“Chevron
Abiteye 18-inch line, a crude oil line, was once again attacked last night. The
Abiteye Escravos is the main line. I spoke with the Chevron superintendent, who
confirmed it and that the entire operation of Chevron in the swamp has been
totally shut down by the attack. That was the only remaining route before, but
with this last attack, all Chevron’s operation is down, totally brought to
zero.
“We
are trying to now proffer a solution; what can we do, in spite of the advocacy
committee’s visit and all that? The issue is that the people are not coming out
like in the last agitation, where you knew where it was coming from, you could
trace it to Camp 5, you could identify some leaders from the camps.
“In
this one, you can’t identify anyone, they are using guerrilla tactics; they are
no longer using either 200 or 75 horsepower speedboats, they now use smaller
speedboats. They are now disguised in a different manner; now you can only see
like two to three people, you’ll just think probably they are going somewhere,
but they are rather causing problems and the funny thing is that they don’t
move in the day time; they only move in the night,” he said.
When
reached for confirmation and comment, Chevron’s General Manager) Policies,
Government and Public Affairs) Deji Haastrup simply said: “I am unable to
comment at this time.”
Delta
State Deputy Governor Kingsley Otuaro, at a news conference in Warri earlier in
the week, said state government’s advocacy efforts had been helpful, adding
that attacks on facilities could have been more than being already experienced.
“We can safely say,
from the intelligence we have, that if this committee had not been put in place,
we would have possibly had a hundred of such one – off attacks that you have
seen so far. That would have been a great setback to the nation’s economy and,
of course, by extension, the state. The committee is doing a great work,”
Otuaro said.
Production Down To
1.67m Barrels As Price Rises Above US$50
The
Nation reports the Federal Government’s anticipated revenue have further been
constrained by the renewed attacks on oil facilities by Niger Delta militants.
In
Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State this week, there was an
attack. A section of the Tebidaba-Brass pipeline along Azuzuama- Ikienghenbiri
creek in Bayelsa State that belongs to Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), an arm
of the Italian oil giant Eni, was blown up.
The
NAOC on Tuesday declared force majeure on oil exports Brass
crude, the second in a month. Force majeure is a legal concept that
absolves companies from liabilities of contractual obligations due to factors
outside its control. ENI said its production was cut by 4,200 barrels per day.
An
attack in the area on May 18 resulted to a shutdown of some 1,000 barrels
bringing a cumulative production loss to 5,200 barrels of the oil firm’s share
of crude output
Shell
and ExxonMobil had earlier halted production temporarily following leaks and
vandalism of oil pipelines. Shell declared force majeure after
continued attacks on its Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL).
Shell
stated that the force majeure was invoked following a leak at the
Nembe creek, which may result into more unavoidable accidents. It added that
repairs on the 90-kilometre trunk line were being carried out by AITEO Eastern
Exploration and Production Company. It is not known when the repair will be
concluded.
ExxonMobil
also declared temporarily force majeure on its Qua Iboe crude grade
because of obstructions along a bridge leading to its Forcados terminal, which
has been resolved.
Eni
spokesperson confirmed the developments in a short e-mail. It said: “I can
confirm the attack to the Ogbaimbiri – Tebidaba pipeline, with 4,200 barrels
per day of production affected. I can confirm that force majeure has
been placed on Brass oil exports from May 22, 2016.”
Nigeria’s
oil production levels have been severely attacked by the activity of militants
with the resurgence of militancy costing the nation as much as 800,000 barrels
of crude oil per day.
The
continual attacks prompted President Muhammadu Buhari to order enhanced
security in the region. Nigeria relies on oil sales for 70 percent of
government revenue but income has been hit by the global fall in oil prices
since mid-2014 and increased militancy.
Buhari
has begun programmes and policies that would in the next few years make Nigeria
independent of oil revenues for survival. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo also
said production is now at 1.67 million barrels per day (bpd) against a budgeted
2.2 million bpd, which was further confirmed by the Minister of State for
Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, during a special session with members of
the House of Representatives.
The
monthly allocation from the Federation Account for April shared on Wednesday
among the tiers of government fell by ₦18.2 billion.
The Federal Government,
states and local governments, shared ₦281.500 billion for April compared to ₦299.747
billion shared for March.
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