Global Policy Forum

By Mike Oduniyi

The fragile peace enjoyed in the oil producing Warri area was shattered at the weekend following the vandalisation of the Escravos crude oil pipeline by youths suspected to be from Ijaw communities. The pipeline transports crude produced in Escravos by ChevronTexaco to the Warri refinery. It is also used to channel imported heavy crude to the Kaduna refinery.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NN PC) said in a statement yesterday that preliminary investigations showed that the pipeline was vandalised "with tools suspected to be explosives." "The vandalisation came at a time efforts were on to re-open the Warri refinery shut down a few days ago because of non-supply of crude oil from Chevron facilities as a result of the crisis in the area," said NNPC.

"This is the third time in recent times that the crude oil pipeline is vandalised using explosives," the corporation stated. NNPC sources said the incident might lead to the closure of the Kaduna refinery following delays to effect repairs on the damaged line.

"Fire is still raging at the site of the damaged pipeline while the militant youths have denied NNPC engineers access to the line ," said one official. The official added that because of the development, expatriate pilots had refused to fly oil workers to Escravos.

The incident came at the time multinational oil companies namely Shell and Chevron began gradual re-opening of their oil production facilities following improved security situation in the Warri area. The two firms shut in a total of 810,000 bpd of oil production in the wake of the crisis. But Shell has begun production of 18,000 bpd while Chevron is now producing at 310,000 bpd.

Peace started returning to the riverine oil producing communities following the deployment of troops to halt the militant youths from advancing further and causing damages to oil installations in the area. But Ijaw communities had equally warned on Friday that they would not allow oil companies to resume operations until their demands, specifically on the ward delineation for the forthcoming elections, were met.

The Warri crisis had left dozens of people dead and more than 3,000 people displaced. It has also cut Nigeria's crude oil production by 40 percent. Meanwhile, as fuel scarcity began to ease at the weekend, the NNPC yesterday summoned the chief executives of the six major oil marketing companies indicted over alleged diversion of five million litres of petrol.

THISDAY checks also reveal that about 30 NNPC oil depot managers have been summoned to the corporation's Abuja headquarters over the fuel crisis that had rocked the nation in the past two months. Sources said the chief executives of Mobil Oil, African Petroleum (AP), TotalFinaElf, Conoil (formerly National), Agip and Unipetrol, were summoned to defend the allegation. The companies, most of which are currently battling with cash squeeze, face possible loss of the credit facility enjoyed in the lifting of petroleum products from NNPC depots.

The major marketers along with 41 independent companies were indicted at the weekend for diverting 165 truck load of petrol. The NNPC holds the marketers responsible for the lingering fuel scarcity. According to the corporation's Group Managing Director, Mr Jackson Gaius-Obaseki, the NNPC had in the last two months imported a total of 200,000 metric tonnes of petrol or 20 million litres per day. "Those in charge of distribution have virtually laid siege on Nigerians...if marketers must divert, they should divert to petrol stations where all Nigerians can have access but certainly not to black market where only the rich can reach," said the NNPC chief.

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