Situation Shocks Oil Companies

This is the first installment of a three part series that will provide some background on the recent unrest plaguing the Niger Delta of Nigeria. I will endeavor to provide readers with an informative series each time I leave the country on time off.

For decades, foreign oil companies operating in Nigeria have had to deal with high tension in the form of vandalism and theft of their products, labor disputes, and the occasional taking of hostages by local tribesmen who were looking for money. In the past three weeks, however, they are being forced to contend with an increasing level of violence that has shocked even the old time oil field expats.

The multinational companies doing business in the Niger Delta's oil-rich but extremely impoverished region have accepted these interuptions as a simple part of doing business in Nigeria. Disruptions of pipelines, protests by local villagers and even sabotage by locals who feel dispossessed of their oil well by the federal government were common and basically tolerated.

The violence and destruction of the past two weeks has been different, to some people it has been frightening and shocking. Militant rebels have made good on vows to cripple the oil industry, block exports and wreak havoc and death on government soldiers and expats alike. They threaten and are attempting to take control of Nigeria's oil resources by force of arms. They even announce that their ultimate goal is the creation of a new national state.

Even previously tight-lipped oil company execuitives are admitting the intensity of the violence has been extremely disruptive to their operations. The amount of loss of life and destruction unleased at Shell's Benisede facility was unbelieveable and ugly. Hostage -taking is an age old tradition in Nigeria, a way of doing business. But usually those foreigners who are kidnapped are treated well and freed after the payment of a ransom.

But the workers who were seized from a boat working near Shell's EA oil platform have been held more than two weeks and been threatened with death. The militant rebels holding them have steadfastly resisted allowing discussions of ransom to enter into the negotiations and have maintained the same set of demands from the very start of dialogue.

This past week an attack on AGIP Oil's Port Harcourt base resulted in the killing of nine policemen working private security for the company. These weren't your normal, everyday cops, either. They were members of the hardcore and feared MOPOLs or "mobiles" as they are called. The police maintained this was a simple robbery of some banks in the AGIP compound, but the perpetrators all wor military fatigues, arrived in speedboats and pulled off the robbery of nearly $30,000 in disciplined precision.

All of these most recent actions have forced some observers to admit the level of violence seems to be reaching that of guerrilla warfare. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta are more than a rag tag bunch of rebellious youth. Their activities are reminiscent of those in most unconventional wars -- lightening quick attacks, catching government forces with their pants down.

When the group attacked Benisede in a dawn raid, it started with rocket attacks on the barracks occupied by the Nigerian Army guarding the facility. It was followed by more explosions and coordinated gunfire and resulted in four soldiers confirmed dead and 11 missing and presumed dead. Eight militants were reported killed.

Tomorrow: Militant Leaders of the Niger Delta Region