For the umpteenth time, Niger Delta militants yesterday attacked another oil installation in the region, blowing up a wellhead in an oil field operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
The current upsurge in attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria, and the political tension in Iran, which has resulted in the death of about 20 persons pushed oil prices to fresh highs of $71.23.
The main militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said it attacked the wellhead in the Afremo Oilfield because the military had gone on a “punitive expedition in Delta State shortly after the Federal Government announced the amnesty offer. The military has however denied the allegation, describing it as false.
Afremo Oilfield is said to be located 14 miles from an export terminal through which crude oil from Shell’s Forcados fields is pumped.
A Reuters report yesterday said oil rose above $71 a barrel, after militants announced the attack on the Shell oilfield and as equity markets rallied on optimism that the global recession was easing.
MEND spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo said in a statement: “Nigerian military Joint Task Force began a punitive expedition on the Niger Delta oil bearing community of Agbeti in Delta state at about 2100Hrs, Thursday, June 25, 2009. Their mission was to seek the homes of perceived militants and raze them to the ground ahead of any amnesty.
“In response, at about 2300 hrs the same day, Thursday, June 25, 2009, Piper Alpha continued it's rampage on the Nigerian oil industry by blowing up the second remaining well head (jacket B) of the Shell Afremo off-shore oil fields in Delta state.”
According to the report, the benchmark August US crude oil contract was up 88 percent per barrel at $71.11, having hit a high of $71.23. London Brent also rose 85 cents to $70.63.
The report added that Exxon Mobil ’s announcement, that its huge Baytown Refinery suffered an operational glitch that triggered flaring, sparking worries that the largest US oil refinery could tighten gasoline stockpiles during this summer's peak demand driving season, helped push the prices up.
MEND recently shifted its offensive against oil installations located outside the Delta and had in the last three weeks claimed responsibility for attacks on oil installations including the Afremo oilfields.

Earlier, the group had attacked the facility of Italian oil giant Eni in Bayelsa State, prompting it to declare force majeure on exports from its Brass River terminal. The company was said to have shut off production of around 33,000 barrels of oil and two million cubic metres of gas per day following the Bayelsa attack.
The militants sabotaged Shell’s oil pipelines in Rivers State as well as a Shallow-water offshore field last Sunday.
MEND said the attack on the company’s pipelines at Adamakiri and Kula, both in Rivers State, early on Sunday was part of its operation, “ Hurricane Piper Alpha.”

Before last Sunday’s incident, the group had attacked Shell’s Trans Ramos pipeline at Aghoro-2 community in Bayelsa State, forcing the company to halt some chunks of crude production. Prior to the renewed attacks on oil facilities in the region, the country was said to have recorded a shut in of over one million b/d, bringing the country’s output to only about 1.6million barrels of oil per day. A recent statistics released by the Department o Petroleum Resources (DPR) about a fortnight ago, showed that production deferment due to the crisis in the oil-rich region was over 1 million barrels per day. The statistics indicated that both the reserves and the daily output are on the decline due to the restiveness in the Niger Delta, raising fears that the restiveness may deter the country from achieving its set targets of 4million barrels per day and reserves of 40 billion barrels by 2010. Nigeria has the capacity to produce 3.2 million barrels of oil per day, but was producing about 2.6 million barrels before the escalation of violence in the region in 2006. The output had hovered around 2.2million up to 2008, when production dropped to about 2million barrels per day. Prompted by the renewed unrest, some oil companies operating in the region have evacuated their staff from site, while others have since suspended further deployment of workers to the crisis region.


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