The current bombing of oil and gas facilities by Niger Delta Avengers and
Egbesu Boys are exacting heavy tolls on the nation’s mono-economy as it is
losing a hefty $1.017 million (about N203.45 million daily).
This figure is as a result of the current price of $48.44 per barrel for
the benchmark crude grade, Brent, and using an average exchange rate of
N200 to a dollar.
The nation’s crude oil export is said to have dipped further by 21,000
barrels per day, due to recent attacks on pipelines by militants in
Bayelsa and Delta States respectively.
As exclusively scooped by Pointblanknews.com, Eni has officially
declared a force majeure on the Brass River crude oil stream after the
bombing of the pipelines used in the transport of the crude oil grade.
It was gathered that about 21,000 barrels per day (bpd) in total of the
stream’s production were impacted by the blast, but just 4,200 bpd were
from Eni’s equity stake.
Disturbed by the spate of attacks on pipelines, Minister of State for
Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, admitted that the nation’s crude oil
export has dipped by 800,000 barrels per day, from about 2.2 million
barrels to 1.4 million barrels per day.
The production outputs of the two major oil firms, Shell Petroleum
Development Company (SPDC) and its subsidiaries as well as Chevron Nigeria
Limited (CNL) have suffered drastic reduction due to the attacks on their
facilities. Worse hit is the Chevron Nigeria Limited, with its facilities
at Abiteye, Marakaba and Ogan off shore field damaged by the militants.
Several months on, Shell is still battling to contain the spill triggered
by the attack on her Forcados subsea export line.
Acting Director-General of the proposed Maritime Security Agency (MASECA),
Mr. Jacob Ovweghre, is quoted as calling on the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA,
and other militant groups to stop the destruction of oil and gas
facilities in the Niger Delta.
Ovweghre appealed to the militants to changeround and pursue their
grievances through dialogue in line with the rule of law so as to gain
credibility, adding that their dastardly acts would bring more hardship
to the people of the oil rich region who he stressed would bear the
brunt.
‘’The destruction of the pipelines in the Niger Delta will reduce the
states’ revenue bases and bleed the nation’s economy, increase
environmental degradation, pollution, poverty, hunger, school drop-out,
unrest, insecurity, under-development and economic loss’’, he said.