Here is the info about the Nigerian Oil Situation

[wx247]

Nigerian oil crisis worsens

Villagers in the Niger Delta prepare to leave as violence escalates.


LAGOS, Nigeria -- U.S. oil major ChevronTexaco has joined Royal Dutch/Shell and TotalFinaElf in cutting oil and gas production in Nigeria as civil unrest escalates.

The violence and production cutbacks are a blow to Nigeria's oil-dependent economy and may add to pressure on crude oil prices. Nigeria is the world's No. 6 oil exporter.

Crude has risen almost 3 percent in after-hours NYMEX trade to $27.70 a barrel, on concerns a drawn-out war in Iraq could disrupt global oil supplies.

Chevron Nigeria, owned 40 percent by ChevronTexaco, said Sunday it had shut all of its oil production in the Western Niger Delta, accounting for 440,000 barrels of oil per day and 285 million cubic feet of gas, because of tribal warfare.

ChevronTexaco said this was about 7 percent of the group's total global output.

Royal Dutch/Shell and TotalFinaElf have already stopped production of about 133,000 barrels per day from their facilities in the delta region.

The total stoppage equals almost 30 percent of output for Nigeria, which is the biggest African producer.

Nigeria's quota was increased by 124,000 bpd to 2.018 million bpd last month after an OPEC meeting.

Chevron Nigeria managing director Jay Prior said on Sunday that while the company did not believe the latest wave of unrest was directed at its people or assets, it was not safe for its staff to remain in the Western Niger Delta.

Dozens of Nigerian civilians and soldiers have died in the spiralling violence between the Ijaw and Itsekiri tribes, which has also drawn in the Nigerian army, Reuters news agency reported.

Ijaw warriors, who are spearheading a campaign for a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth, have threatened to blow up crude oil flowstations if the army continues to raze their villages.

The Ijaws and the army have clashed several times since an incident on March 13, in which the army says Ijaws killed three soldiers at Okerenkoko village. The army has demanded the Ijaws hand over those responsible.

Kingsley Koko, spokesman for the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), said Ijaw militants had taken control of between nine and 11 flowstations.

"We are making all efforts to avoid further bloodshed. But they should not raze our communities because where they do so, the boys will be forced to blow up oil pipelines and flowstations," Koko told Reuters.

17 arrested
Nigerian officials quoted by the Associated Press said the army had arrested 17 ethnic fighters Sunday in connection with the threat to blow up 11 oil installations.

Army spokesman Chukwuemeka Onwuamaegbu told the Associated Press that Navy troops intercepted a boat carrying the 17 militants on a river near ChevronTexaco's Escravos facility

"We're handing them over to the police to investigate," said Onwuamaegbu, without identifying the men.

Battles between rival Ijaw and Itsekiri militants have drawn a massive armed response from Nigerian military seeking to quell the fighting.

Ijaw community leaders have accused the army of attacking a village near Escravos facility.

Onwuamaegbu denied the allegations.

Ijaw leaders said they were meeting Sunday in the oil city of Port Harcourt to plan further anti-government actions.

Six of the captured facilities belong to Shell's Nigerian subsidiary. ChevronTexaco has three and TotalFinaElf has two.

These facilities pump crude oil to the companies' export terminals. The militants' threat to destroy them could hinder drilling in the oil-rich delta for years.

The Ijaw militants want the army to stop its attack and also want the government to redraw voting boundaries ahead of end-of-April elections.

The Ijaws, with eight million people the largest ethnic group in the delta, have long accused President Olusegun Obasanjo of colluding with minority Itsekiris to draw up voting boundaries unfavorable to them.

At least 75 people, including 10 soldiers and 65 militants, have been killed in fighting since troops began it at Okorenkoko on March 12 with Ijaw militants who had earlier skirmished with Itsekiris.

More than 10,000 people have been killed since Obasanjo's election in 1999 ended more than 15 years of brutal military rule.

[Steve H.]

Think the Oil companies are concerned about the possibility that oil prices may plummet?? Easiest way to avert that is to slow production. hhhmmm.

[JQ Public]

weird stufff! unusual how things like this escape news coverage b/c of the war. I didn't even know anything about it.

[wx247]

I know. There has been a lot of news not covered because the way... important stuff too.