Roundup: Nigeria moves to end attacks on oil facilities

Nigeria's vice-president Yemi Osinbajo has opened talks with stakeholders in the Nigerian oil and gas industry as well as governors of provinces where major oil facilities were located, a move targeted at ending recent attacks on gas pipelines in the Niger Delta region, presidency sources said on Tuesday.

Osinbajo had on Monday met with Nigeria's security chiefs, top government officials and others who have a role to play in stopping the menace of militants engaged in the blowing up of the country's major oil pipelines.

So far, a group known as Niger Delta Avengers has claimed responsibility for the explosions which, last week, rocked an offshore production platform in the southeastern state of Delta and another pipeline transporting crude oil to local refineries in the oil rich city of Warri and the northwestern state of Kaduna.

Following the attack on its facility, Chevron, the American oil company had since shutdown its offshore production platform, worsening the blackout being experienced in many parts of the West African country.

Similarly, Shell's Forcados field has remained shutdown and under force majeure since February, following an attack on a sub-sea pipeline which produced 250,000 oil barrels per day.

Presidency sources said more meetings will be held Tuesday and thereafter, to ensure an end to the spate of attacks by militants.

In terms of output, latest statistics have shown that, partly due to recent attacks on pipeline, Nigeria has recorded a huge decline which put the financial muscle of the West African country under intense pressure.

In its 2016 budget signed last week, the Nigerian government put the oil benchmark at 38 U.S. dollars per barrel and projected 2.2 million barrel per day in terms of production.

However, the latest data by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which attributed the depressed production in the country to violence, noted the largest oil producer in Africa now produces roughly 1.69 million barrel per day.

According to the IEA, a small reduction from any field would quickly send output to the next low, last seen in August 1994, when output reached 1.46 million barrel per day.

Meanwhile, local airlines in Nigeria have said they are troubled by the limited supply of JET A1, also known as aviation fuel, in the country.

Noting the oil shortage has begun to disrupt flight operations in Nigeria, the local airlines at a joint press conference on Monday, said the scarcity of aviation fuel was responsible for the recent delay and cancellation of local flight operations in the country.

"We are experiencing fuel scarcity as our contract fuel suppliers are unable to supply fuel to us, while the other suppliers are unable to supply fuel to us due to scarcity of aviation fuel," an official statement said.

The airline operators said they were taking appropriate measures to address the issue as soon as possible by engaging other suppliers to ensure a smooth, safe and secure flight operations throughout the West African country. Endit