Tension grips Nigeria's oil delta as flowstations shut

Oil majors in Nigeria's troubled Niger Delta are closing facilities and evacuating staff, amid dangerous tension there over the arrest of a militia leader.

US oil giant Chevron on Friday shut down a second flowstation in the oil-rich delta following Thursday's invasion of its nearby Idama flowstation by over 100 armed militants of the illegal Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (NDPVF), company spokeswoman Edith Azinge told Xinhua.

"We have closed the Robertkiri flowstation as a precautionary measure," Azinge said. "We are monitoring the situation closely." On Thursday, she said the company was evacuating non-essential personnel from other facilities.

The closures led to the loss of 26,000 barrels of oil production per day in OPEC member Nigeria, also the top oil producer in Africa.

Royal Dutch Shell, which accounts for about half of Nigeria's oil production, however, said its oil production had not been affected and reopened its offices in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt on Friday.

Shell withdrew about 50 workers from the Niger Delta on Thursday night, but company spokesman Bisi Ojediran merely called the withdrawal "crew change."

These things are the result of the arrest of NDPVF top leader Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo Asari early this week as his supporters threatened to attack all oil installations if he is not released.

On Friday, the NDPVF issued a 48-hour ultimatum, ordering all oil companies to evacuate the delta region, where the majority of Nigeria's oil is produced.

"We will kill every iota of oil operations in the Niger Delta. We will destroy anything and everything," the group said in a statement. "Shell, Chevron, Mobil, Total and others should please take note. All of their installations will not be spared."

But Alhaji Ibrahim, a top member of the NDPVF, told Xinhua from Port Harcourt that there was no impendent threat. "We will wait for the release (of Asari)," he said. "If this does not come, I don't know what will happen."

As unrest seems to return again, security has been beefed up in oil facilities in the Niger Delta. Two naval warships, fighter jets and two helicopters have been deployed to the region and military operations there have been put on high alert to protect key oil production and export facilities, Nigeria's ThisDay newspaper quoted reliable security sources as saying on Friday.

In Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa, which is one of the oil-rich eight states in the Niger Delta, there is a high presence of soldiers with sophisticated weapons, a local journalist said.

Bayelsa state governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha was arrested over alleged money laundering a week ago in London by British police, sparking a local ethnic group threat to attack Britons and British oil firms.

NDPVF leader Asari was the former president of the group, the Ijaw Youth Council.

Nigerian police however said Asari was arrested over "seditious and treasonable" comments in a recent exclusive interview with a Nigerian newspaper in which he said: "Nigeria is an evil entity. It has nothing to stand on and I will continue to fight and try to see that Nigeria dissolves and disintegrates."

On Thursday, Asari appeared briefly before a high court in the capital Abuja, which ordered he remain detained for two weeks before formal charges of treason are brought. "I have been held for 48 hours ... you cannot detain me beyond 48 hours," he shouted, challenging the government to put him on trial without further delay.

Earlier, Justice Minister Bayo Ojo told reporters: "No single individual or group can hold this country to ransom." Ojo also said measures are being put in place to maintain peace and ensure the safety of Nigerians and foreigners.

Last year, Asari threatened to launch an overall war against foreign oil companies which helped increase the price of crude to 50 US dollars a barrel.

But President Olusegun Obasanjo later invited him for peace talks in Abuja, where they reached a ceasefire agreement. Since then, he moved to Port Harcourt and surrendered thousands of assault rifles and machine guns.

Nigeria earns billions of oil money every year, but the people in the Niger Delta still live in abject poverty. They usually demand compensation from foreign oil companies by seizing oil facilities, kidnapping oil workers or threat of violence.

Source: Xinhua