Pipeline Attack in Nigeria Pushes Crude Oil Higher
July 29, 2008; Page C12
NEW YORK — Crude-oil futures edged higher on supply interruptions in Nigeria and escalating rhetoric from Iran, though concerns over weakening demand continued to weigh on the market.
![[Crude-Oil Futures]](https://i0.wp.com/s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/MI-AR573_COMMOD_20080728202825.gif?resize=183%2C284)
Light, sweet crude for September delivery settled $1.47, or 1.19% higher, at $124.73 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Oil futures closed in positive territory Monday for only the third time in the last 10 trading days. Since reaching a record high of $145.29 a barrel July 3, oil prices have declined more than $20, or 14%, halting a historic rally.
Crude futures got a leg up when Royal Dutch Shell PLC confirmed Monday that some of its production had been disrupted in Nigeria after an attack on its 130,000-barrel-a-day Nembe Creek pipeline. The African nation’s main militant group said it bombed two oil pipelines early Monday. Whether a second pipeline had in fact been damaged is still unconfirmed.
Shell has yet to clarify the extent of the damage to Nembe Creek, but oil traders see Nigerian production problems as the key element keeping prices buoyant.
“That might actually be the reason these other bearish factors are being totally overlooked for the time being,” said Nauman Barakat, senior vice president of global energy futures at Macquarie Futures USA in New York. Nigeria produces highly viscous and low-sulfur crude that is coveted by refiners due to its relatively high yields of light products such as gasoline.
Data released by the U.S. Department of Transportation showing a 3.7% drop in vehicle-miles traveled in May versus a year ago muted the impact of the bullish international news. The decline in miles driven underscores the extent that U.S. demand for petroleum products is eroding in the face of scalding gasoline prices.
“Consumption has been down, here in the U.S., and that’s been tempering these problems that we’ve had,” said Mark Waggoner, president of Excel Futures in Newport Beach, Calif. “It’s an ongoing tug of war between the bullish and the bearish news.”
Tensions between Iran and the U.S. resurfaced as a weekend statement by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed Tehran has expanded its nuclear-enrichment program, ignoring calls for a freeze.
Mr. Ahmadinejad also told NBC television in an interview aired Monday that a genuine shift in the U.S.’s approach to Iran would garner a positive response from Tehran.
The strife in Nigeria, which continues to keep high-quality crude flows off the global market, has affected traders more than the “saber-rattling that’s coming out of Iran,” Mr. Waggoner said.
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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