Major oil and gas companies in Niger Delta region, including Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A), Chevron and others are set to go into peace talks with the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), whose members have agreed to consider such talks even with the Nigerian government. The militants said that it does not have new demands, as it just wanted foreign oil and gas companies to leave the southern region of the Niger Delta and stop oil pollution.
The group said that it wanted genuine attitude by the government and a conducive atmosphere to carry out dialogue.
The Avengers started to attack oil infrastructure in February, when they blew up Shell’s Forcados terminal and under-water pipeline.
On its website, the group pointed out that while Chevron has not suffered any electricity outage in the past 40 years, the locals do not have access to clean water, hospitals and schools. The group said that multi-national oil companies are living as “Kings” in Nigeria.
According to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the attacks on Shell, Chevron, Eni SpA (ADR) have reduced Nigerian crude oil production by almost 700,000–800,000 barrels per day (bpd). The oil production has dropped to its lowest in 27 years in Africa’s biggest economy which is majorly dependent on crude oil for its revenue. [myad]
