Niger Delta Avengers Threatens Exxonmobil

– The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) has declared a war on ExxonMobil 

– The group is at logger heads with the oil company over the alleged bombing of the company’s oil facility 

– The NDA has threatened to target the company’s workers 

 

The Niger Delta Avengers has declared war on U.S oil giant, ExxonMobil. The NDA threat is coming after its constant back and forth with the oil company over the veracity of the group claims that they destroyed oil facilities owned by the company.

The group also reiterated its warnings to oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region not to fix oil facilities that they have destroyed. Yesterday, July 15, ExxonMobil subsidiary Mobil Producing Nigeria declared force majeure on exports of Nigeria’s Qua Iboe crude oil. Qua Iboe crude oil is Nigeria’s largest export stream. The company’s announcement raised curiosity as to whether the claims by the NDA are true. But the spokesperson for the company, Todd Spliter, in a statement released to the media said the company observed a “system anomaly” during a routine check of its loading facility on Thursday, July 14. 

 

In response to ExxonMobil’s claims, the NDA’s spokesperson, Mudoch Agbinibo accused the oil company of engaging in deceit and misleading the public on the true situation of things. 

 

His words: “ExxonMobil can deny and fool the general public about their export pipeline blown yesterday. How long can they lie to their investors? Just in matter of days, the whole world will see the truth. Qua Iboe 48” crude oil export pipeline is down. 

 

“When we published that the Qua Iboe 48-inch crude oil export line was blown by us , ExxonMobil denied it, but now ExxonMobil has admitted that the 48” pipeline that Niger Delta Avengers blew up is “system anomaly.” “We urged them to follow the path of safety by admitting it that was blown, but ExxonMobil not admitting it to their traders/international refineries is none of our business. It will become our business when ExxonMobil carries out repair work on the blown pipeline. “When that time comes, it will not be ExxonMobil declaring force majeure, but it is going to be something worse. “We are warning ExxonMobil not to carry out any repair work on the blown pipeline, if they refuse and go ahead with any repair work, something big and worse will happen. “To the traders/international refineries doing business with them, do not let ExxonMobil deceive you that the repair work will take three to four weeks, with the level of damage. it will take them (ExxonMobil) months to fix it.” The NDA reiterated that if theri demands are not met by the Nigerian government, they won’t back down on the attacks on oil facilities. According to Vanguard, they also threatened to attack workers of ExxonMobil if any attempt is made to carry out repairs on its facilities. “If ExxonMobil fails to listen to us, your personnel are going to be our next casualties, not pipelines,” Agbinibo concluded. 

 

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s crude oil production managed to increase recently despite consistent Niger Delta militant attacks on oil facilities. The production increased from the 1.426 million barrels per day in May to 1.523 million barrels per day in June although Nigeria lost its status as Africa’s top oil producer.