Just as Nigeria had started to increase its oil and gas production under President Bola Tinubu, a series of blasts and fires at major pipelines are threatening to unravel the progress Africa’s top crude producer has made.
A political feud and crisis reminded the oil market that pipeline sabotage and politically-motivated vandalism in Nigeria’s oil-rich states is always lurking around the corner.
In the Rivers State in the Niger Delta, where a large part of the country’s oil is produced and exported, at least three explosions and fires at oil and gas pipelines halted some supply over the past week.
Early last week, the Trans-Niger Pipeline, one of Nigeria’s biggest pipelines carrying crude from the Niger Delta to the Bonny terminal, was rocked by a powerful explosion. The explosion at Bodo, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, caused a massive fire at the section of the pipeline in the area.
Operations at the Trans-Niger Pipeline, which accounts for about 15% of Nigerian oil exports, were restored a week later. But the violence and political crisis don’t end.
While the cause of the explosion has yet to be investigated and announced, there is already speculation that the blast could be the result of sabotage, in view of the threats that militant groups in the area have recently made. The militants have threatened to attack oil infrastructure in the Rivers state amid an ongoing political crisis between the state and the federal government over federal money allocation to Rivers.
Last week, Nigerian President Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers and suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, and all elected members of the state House of Assembly for six months. Fubara is a member of the opposition party and the successor of close Tinubu ally Nyesom Wike.
As renewed political infighting puts Nigeria’s oil revival at risk, the president’s goal of lifting production to 2 million barrels per day (bpd) is under threat again.
Oilprice.com