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| Africa Subsaharan | |
| Shell evacuates Nigeria workers ; militants' aim "destroy oil exports" | |
| 2006-01-16 | |
The evacuations from Benisede and three other pumping stations will not affect production, already halted because of a pipeline attack last Wednesday. The latest attack helped put upward pressure on oil prices, with markets already worried about the nuclear standoff involving Iran, the world's fourth largest crude oil exporter. In London on Monday morning, the price for a barrel of Brent crude had risen by 19 cents to $62.45. In two attacks last week, militants ruptured a major pipeline feeding an export terminal and kidnapped four foreign workers from another Shell oil rig in the region. The hostages, who are still being held, come from the UK, the US, Honduras and Bulgaria, a Shell spokeswoman said. Correspondents say the move will increase pressure on Nigeria's government to crack down on ethnic Ijaw militants who want more control over the region's oil revenues. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the group that says it is holding the hostages, has demanded the release of separatist leader Mujahid Dokubu Asari, who is being held on treason charges, and former Bayelsa State governor Diepreye Alamieyaseigha, who is accused of money-laundering. "It must be clear that the Nigerian government cannot protect your workers or assets. Leave our land while you can or die in it," the group said in an email statement. "Our aim is to totally destroy the capacity of the Nigerian government to export oil." The kidnappings and explosion, the latest in a string of violent incidents in the troubled region, have slashed Shell's production there by some 220,000 barrels a day - almost 10% of Nigeria's average output of 2.6m barrels. | |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #4 Remember Zawahiri's letter? One of the main goals of the islamonazis is to take control of as much oil as possible. Control of oil means control of oil-using nations, in their sight. They don't understand that if they succeed, all bets are off. That will be a definitive declaration of war not even the French can mis-construe. In the meantime, the United States needs to do three things: establish a REAL, WORKING national energy policy that includes drilling wherever oil can be economically recovered, development of a working, affordable oil shale process, developing a national natural gas pipeline infrastructure that's both workable and economical, development of alternate energy resources to include replacing coal- or oil-fired generating plants with breeder reactor nuclear plants, and cracking down on the envirowackos around the world (and their funding) with the same zeal and energy we have expended on the islamonazis. Otherwise in ten years we'll be dancing to the Wahabbists' tune, or engaged in a very serious war that may include the use of nuclear weapons by both sides. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2006-01-16 16:54 |
| #3 I think The Thugs took out futures in fuel cell technology as well as other alternate fuels. What else could explain their efforts to inspire us to work faster to achieve these goals. |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-01-16 14:43 |
| #2 Raises the prices of Saudi and Iranian and Chavez crude.... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-01-16 14:34 |
| #1 Islamist thugs are globalised. Is there a co-ordination of aim? did the text go round: target oil? Iran just threatened oil price hikes to the US to back off. Pakistan pissed off over village bombing. Is this goal a common goal of all the islamists right now? |
| Posted by: anon1 2006-01-16 10:07 |