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Nigeria acts on 'bunkering'
28/11/2003 14:04 - (SA)
Lagos - Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has set up a panel to seek a solution to the problems of the oil-rich Niger Delta region, which is plagued by piracy and ethnic violence.
Nigeria loses more than 100 000 barrels per day to heavily armed gangs of pirates, who control smuggling in the delta and earn millions of dollars stealing crude from pipelines.
"The committee is also expected to resolve some of the agitations that can be avoided and to reduce the spate of violence in the Niger Delta," a presidential spokesman said.
He said the panel is headed by Delta State governor James Ibori, who has in the past initiated peace talks among three of the region's rival ethnic groups, the Itsekiri, Ijaw and Urhobo.
Hundreds of people died and thousands fled their homes during ethnic violence in the western delta in March.
And oil majors like Anglo-Dutch Shell, ChevronTexaco and Total have shut down dozens of oil wells and pumping stations in the region.
Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer and the fifth largest exporter within the Opec cartel.
At the height of March's violence in the delta region, Nigeria's exports were cut by more than a third, sending shivers through world oil markets.
Much of that shortfall has since been made up by increasing production and exports elsewhere, but along the ethnic faultline in the western delta, oil facilities still lie abandoned.
Gangs of pirates have exploited the chaos to step up attacks on pipelines and oil facilities, regularly kidnapping workers for ransom or hijacking supply barges.
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