The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA)—the militant group responsible for most of the 2016 attacks on Nigeria’s oil infrastructure—threatened on Wednesday to unleash the deadliest round of attacks on Nigeria’s oil sector—“in a few days time”.
“This round of attacks will be the most deadly and will be targeting the deep sea operations of the multinationals which include Bonga Platform, Agbami, EA Field, Britania-U Field, Akpo Field; amongst others littered across the deep waters of the Niger Delta region,” the militants said in a statement on their website.
In November 2017, just as Nigeria had been steadily ramping up production from the 2016 lows, the NDA returned to the scene and warned oil companies of a “brutish, brutal and bloody” end of the ceasefire in the oil-rich Delta.
Throughout 2017, in the absence of significant militant attacks, Nigeria managed to gradually increase its crude oil production to the point of becoming a headache for OPEC’s cuts because it had been exempt from the initial collective agreement to curtail production. At the November 2017 meeting, however, both Nigeria and fellow African producer Libya agreed to cap their production for 2018 at 2017 levels so as not to spoil OPEC’s efforts. Related: Geopolitical Wildcards Could Push Oil Beyond $70
According to the S&P Global Platts survey on OPEC production—one of the secondary sources the cartel uses to track members’ production—Nigeria’s oil production in December rose to 1.9 million bpd, from 1.84 million bpd in November and 1.78 million bpd in October. Official OPEC figures on the December production will be released on Thursday in the Monthly Oil Market Report.
Analysts have questioned the capacity and ability of Nigeria and Libya to further increase their respective production due to security, financing, and technical challenges. Now Nigeria may be facing another spate of militant attacks on its infrastructure, which, if they were to take place, could knock production offline and boost oil prices.
“We mean it when we say they (the oil installations) shall dance to the sound of the fury of the Niger Delta Avengers. Good a thing the ocean is wide enough to accommodate as many wreck as possible,” the Niger Delta Avengers said today.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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