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Friday, September 19, 2008
Nigeria has seen much action stemming from violence in the Niger Delta this past week. A pipeline in Nigeria’s Cawthorne Channel was sabotaged according to a statement from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). The militant group said that the pipeline was attacked early September 18.
The attack is one of many Shell has suffered in a little under a week. On September 17 the group said that it blew up a major pipeline belonging to Shell and Agip. The militants also attacked a Shell flow station at Orubiri along with another militant group. An attack also occurred at the company’s Alakiri flow station and another pipeline.
Meanwhile, Shell has said that the ongoing sabotage and attacks on it Nigerian facilities would most likely have an impact on its bottom line, but did not offer specific figures. It did say earlier however, that it was evacuating staff from some of its facilities in the Niger Delta for safety reasons. The evacuation followed the attack of its Alakiri facility that left one guard dead and four workers injured. According to a statement from Nigeria’s MEND, the facility was destroyed. “The Alakiri flow station has been completely destroyed,” Jomo Gbomo, a MEND spokesman said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg.
On September 9 militants hijacked an oil industry supply vessel in the Niger Delta. The vessel, the HD Blue Ocean, had five foreign workers and eight Nigerians on board when it was hijacked at the entrance of the Sambreiro River. Security reports said no group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack and the fate of those attacked by the suspected militants remain unknown.
In addition, both Addax and Chevron saw attacks on their oil facilities, or vessels serving them.
The militant group declared “war” against the oil industry on September 14, and so far is living up to its declaration. MEND also plans to expand its war outside of the Rivers State, taking the armed conflict to Bayelsa and Delta and also to attack the offshore fields, namely Shell’s Bonga and Chevron’s Agbami.
Numerous (up to 30) oil workers of various nationalities were also taken hostage the week prior. According to reports on Friday, two of the hostages, South Africans, were to be released.
In related news, MEND leader Henry Okah was taken to the hospital for medical treatment. Apparently a judge allowed Okah to seek treatment following a claim by Femi Falana, one of his defense lawyers, that said he was suffering from kidney complications.
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