WATCHING THE WORLD: Trouble in Nigeria

May 7, 2007
The ink was barely dry on a report by the International Maritime Bureau about pirate attacks on oil ships and installations around the globe when some bad guys decided to put the findings in neon lights with an attack on a Chevron Corp. floating production, storage, and offloading vessel off Nigeria.

The ink was barely dry on a report by the International Maritime Bureau about pirate attacks on oil ships and installations around the globe when some bad guys decided to put the findings in neon lights with an attack on a Chevron Corp. floating production, storage, and offloading vessel off Nigeria.

The May 1 attack on Chevron’s Oloibiri FPSO off Bayelsa state resulted in the death of one Nigerian sailor and the kidnapping of six foreign oil workers by members of Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

This is not the first time for MEND to make its appearance in these columns. Last year, it was reported that the militant group had announced a mobilization of its fighters to counter a new military offensive by the Nigerian government (OGJ, Oct. 9, 2006, p. 30).

MEND’s pledge

“In good time we will redeem our pledge to the people of the Niger Delta to halt altogether the rape of our land by the Nigerian government and conniving oil companies,” MEND said. Their script hasn’t changed much since then.

This time around, MEND-which made no apology for the death of the sailor-said its attack on Chevron’s facilities should also be interpreted as a warning to Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which has recently returned to fields in Bayelsa and Delta states after earlier attacks by the militant group.

In a word, the fight will continue between the rebels and the government over control of Nigeria’s oil revenues-with hapless international companies caught in the middle and paying the price in human terms as well as in oil dollars.

That’s pretty much in keeping with the IMB report on piracy that found the number of attacks in Nigeria has doubled when compared with the first quarter of 2006.

Attacks increasing

“The six attacks reported for the first quarter of 2007 included a number of violent attacks against vessels and crew working in offshore oil installations,” the report said.

“In these cases,” it said, “crew members were both assaulted and abducted.” The report went on to note that attacks on other vessels were also reported in the Niger Delta region, concluding that “an alarming total of 40 crew members were taken hostage or kidnapped in Nigeria alone.”

It is not as though things can’t change since the reported incidents of piracy dropped significantly in Southeast Asia, with Indonesia recording nine incidents, down dramatically from 19 last year.

Especially impressive is the fact that just two incidents were recorded in the Malacca Straits, which according to the IMB, “now represents an excellent example of how cooperation between authorities can tackle and suppress piracy attacks.”

The improvement in Southeast Asia followed considerable international pressure on the governments of countries along the Malacca Straits. If international pressure can contain piracy in those infested waters, then the same pressure needs to be applied to Nigeria.