Gunmen kill five security personnel in Nigerian Delta, oil companies evacuate staff

Chairman of Rivers State chapter of Trade Union Congress, TUC, Mr. Chika Onuegbu, who disclosed this yesterday, said evacuation of workers was done in areas the militants attacked, saying operations were ongoing in safer areas.

A villager who gave her name as Sarah Ebikabowei said gunmen had killed three soldiers in Bayelsa state, which is also located in the Delta. Crude oil sales account for about 70 percent of national income in Nigeria but there has been little development in the region.

After a period of relative calm, recent events have put oil firms around Nigeria in particular back on high alert. “Those evacuated are where their platforms have been attacked but others are working”.

He said that the Defence Headquarters was aware of the emergence of a group in the Niger Delta that had vowed to cripple economic activities through pipeline vandalism and related acts.

The Niger Delta Avengers threatened to blow up more crude oil facilities until the Federal Government meets their demands.

While Shell said the latest unrest had not yet impacted production, its Forcados field, for example, is still closed and under force majeure following a February subsea pipeline attack, taking out 250,000 bpd.

“It’s really not a good situation”, Eugene Lindell, senior energy analyst with JBC Energy in Vienna, told Reuters. “They have less production, and they’re getting less bang for their buck”. The company said it continues to maintain production at the oilfield despite growing threats of terrorism.

It’s “highly likely that violence will escalate in the Niger delta as the government increases its military presence and the militants respond with further attacks”, BMI Research said in a note. Nigeria, being part of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has suffered immensely amid a crude oil price collapse. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects the oil-rich country to experience a growth rate of only 2.3% in 2016.

According to DHQ “The military will employ all available means and measures within its Rule of Engagement to crush any individual or group that engages in the destruction of strategic assets and facilities of the government in the Niger Delta or any other location and they will stand to regret the consequences of their actions”.