Nigerian militants threaten to blow up oil tankers
LAGOS, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Nigerian militants who have kidnapped nine foreign oil workers and forced a sharp cutback in the country's oil exports threatened on Sunday to blow up oil tankers.
"We are not just going to fire rockets. We intend to destroy any export tanker we are able to reach," the militants said in an email to Reuters.
The militants of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, where all of Nigeria's oil is located, have pledged to halt Nigerian oil exports completely in a campaign to secure more control over the region's wealth.
The group kidnapped nine foreign oil workers on Saturday, forcing a 20 percent cutback in shipments from the world's eighth largest oil exporter.
It said it could further cut exports by destroying shipping.
"That can easily be achieved by setting the engine room and accommodation space on fire. As long as the integrity of the storage tanks has been compromised, whatever stored products will serve as fuel to ensure a complete destruction," the group said in its email.
The government says the militant movement is a cover for thieves siphoning crude oil on a commercial scale from pipelines across the vast wetlands region. The militants deny this.
They have demanded the release of two ethnic Ijaw leaders -- an impeached state governor on trial for money laundering and a militia leader charged with treason -- and more local control over the Niger Delta's vast oil resources.
The militants snatched the hostages -- three Americans, a Briton, two Egyptians, two Thais and one Filipino -- from a barge operated by U.S. services company Willbros during a string of attacks on Saturday which crippled Shell's 380,000-barrel-a-day Forcados loading platform and two pipelines.
About 100,000 barrels a day of Forcados production was already knocked out by an earlier attack.
Shell closed its 115,000 barrel-a-day offshore EA oilfield as a precaution.
PRICE RISE
The military-style raids were a mirror image of attacks in December and January which hit 10 percent of Nigerian exports at one point and saw four foreign oil workers kidnapped for 19 days.
The latest attacks occurred a few hours after the close of global futures markets and analysts predicted a sharp jump in prices at the open of trading on Monday.
"It's got to be worth up to $2 a barrel initially," said Geoff Pyne, an independent market analyst in London.
World prices had subsided below $60 per barrel on the London market last week, from a recent high near $70, on a steady increase in oil stockpiles in consuming nations.
"There is plenty of crude but this will stoke fears of a supply crunch. There is no doubt prices will go higher," said Gary Ross of PIRA consultants in New York.
Nigeria has some new offshore oilfields now coming on stream which will partially offset the lost output, Pyne added, but militants have promised another wave of attacks "on a grander scale" in the near future.
Militants said they had detected 14 military boats in the vicinity of Forcados on Sunday and that they would mount another assault shortly.
"We will carry out further attacks in areas with considerable presence of Nigerian military in order to compound the embarrassment of the Nigerian military and expose their ineptitude to the world," the militants said.
"Oil workers on any kind of vessel should leave the vicinity of Delta state immediately," they added.
The barge where Saturday's kidnapping occurred was defended by two navy patrol boats but security sources said many of the 12 guards were sleeping when the militants, armed with a heavy machinegun, assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades, arrived in large numbers.
The kidnappers could have taken more foreign oil workers hostage if they had had more space on their speed boats, the source added.
"The Nigerian troops are not motivated, not equipped and not trained to deal with this," he said.
"We are not just going to fire rockets. We intend to destroy any export tanker we are able to reach," the militants said in an email to Reuters.
The militants of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, where all of Nigeria's oil is located, have pledged to halt Nigerian oil exports completely in a campaign to secure more control over the region's wealth.
The group kidnapped nine foreign oil workers on Saturday, forcing a 20 percent cutback in shipments from the world's eighth largest oil exporter.
It said it could further cut exports by destroying shipping.
"That can easily be achieved by setting the engine room and accommodation space on fire. As long as the integrity of the storage tanks has been compromised, whatever stored products will serve as fuel to ensure a complete destruction," the group said in its email.
The government says the militant movement is a cover for thieves siphoning crude oil on a commercial scale from pipelines across the vast wetlands region. The militants deny this.
They have demanded the release of two ethnic Ijaw leaders -- an impeached state governor on trial for money laundering and a militia leader charged with treason -- and more local control over the Niger Delta's vast oil resources.
The militants snatched the hostages -- three Americans, a Briton, two Egyptians, two Thais and one Filipino -- from a barge operated by U.S. services company Willbros
About 100,000 barrels a day of Forcados production was already knocked out by an earlier attack.
Shell closed its 115,000 barrel-a-day offshore EA oilfield as a precaution.
PRICE RISE
The military-style raids were a mirror image of attacks in December and January which hit 10 percent of Nigerian exports at one point and saw four foreign oil workers kidnapped for 19 days.
The latest attacks occurred a few hours after the close of global futures markets and analysts predicted a sharp jump in prices at the open of trading on Monday.
"It's got to be worth up to $2 a barrel initially," said Geoff Pyne, an independent market analyst in London.
World prices had subsided below $60 per barrel on the London market last week, from a recent high near $70, on a steady increase in oil stockpiles in consuming nations.
"There is plenty of crude but this will stoke fears of a supply crunch. There is no doubt prices will go higher," said Gary Ross of PIRA consultants in New York.
Nigeria has some new offshore oilfields now coming on stream which will partially offset the lost output, Pyne added, but militants have promised another wave of attacks "on a grander scale" in the near future.
Militants said they had detected 14 military boats in the vicinity of Forcados on Sunday and that they would mount another assault shortly.
"We will carry out further attacks in areas with considerable presence of Nigerian military in order to compound the embarrassment of the Nigerian military and expose their ineptitude to the world," the militants said.
"Oil workers on any kind of vessel should leave the vicinity of Delta state immediately," they added.
The barge where Saturday's kidnapping occurred was defended by two navy patrol boats but security sources said many of the 12 guards were sleeping when the militants, armed with a heavy machinegun, assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades, arrived in large numbers.
The kidnappers could have taken more foreign oil workers hostage if they had had more space on their speed boats, the source added.
"The Nigerian troops are not motivated, not equipped and not trained to deal with this," he said.
posted by Marko at 2/19/2006 12:26:00 PM
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