ABUJA, Nigeria, Aug. 26 (UPI) — Ongoing political and social strife in Nigeria’s delta region continues to affect Royal Dutch Shell’s oil extraction efforts.

Royal Dutch Shell’s major concern remains the militant armed efforts of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, as MEND attacks over the last several years have repeatedly forced Shell to declare force majeure and suspend production.

Royal Dutch Shell’s latest problems stem from a protest by local women in the Niger Delta’s Warri South-West Local Government Area in Escravos demonstrating over the community being bypassed for development, forcing Shell Petroleum Development Co. to shut down its Otumara-Escravos flow station, the Daily Trust reported Thursday. Last week they blocked access to Chevron Corp.’s new Escravos/Warri natural gas pipeline in the area. read more

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) called off its ceasefire just hours before an attack on three fuel pumping stations operated by Royal Dutch Shell. The company confirmed on Monday it was forced to partially shut down production following the sabotage assault on the facilities, in the south-eastern Bayelsa state.

BBC NEWS: Mend has carried out many attacks over several years

Saturday, 30 January 2010

A militant group in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta says it is ending the ceasefire it declared last October.

Jomo Gbomo, who said he was a spokesman for the group Mend, said it did not believe the government would restore control of resources to local people.

Mend has demanded that residents be given a greater share in profits from oil resources and land.

It warned oil companies to prepare for what it called an all-out onslaught against installations and personnel.

Analysts say it is not yet clear if this statement comes from the whole of Mend – the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta – or just a faction that did not accept the offer of an amnesty from President Umaru Yar Adua. read more

Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta denied involvement in the abduction of the contractors.

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) — Four Shell contractors — three Britons and a Colombian — have been released after being kidnapped a week ago, a police spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The abductions in the oil-rich Niger Delta happened last Tuesday when attackers ambushed a bus in which the four were traveling, according to Rita Inoma, a police spokeswoman in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

The former hostages were doing well, Inoma said. read more

Sat Dec 19, 2009 1:51pm GMT

LAGOS, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) said on Saturday it had no reports of attacks on facilities operated by its SPDC joint venture in Nigeria, following a claim by militants to have struck an oil pipeline overnight.

“At this time we don’t have reports of our facility being attacked,” a Shell spokesperson said. (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: af.reuters.com/ )

(Reporting by Nick Tattersall; editing by David Stamp) read more

RADIO NEDERLAND

16 October 2009

The Nigerian rebel group the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, says it will take up arms again and resume attacks on oil production facilities. The group had called a cease-fire in July after Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua offered an unconditional amnesty and released one of MEND’s main leaders Henry Okah. The government says 8,000 MEND commanders and soldiers have taken advantage of the amnesty and turned in their weapons.

However MEND has dismissed the amnesty as a “charade” and says that the government purchased many of the weapons it said had been turned in by rebels. read more

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: IBADAN, Nigeria--Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Saturday it was operating its many facilities in the Niger Delta with a minimum staff following the frequent attacks on its facilities in the region by militants.

Sabotage at Shell’s oil plants in the delta region, where it is the largest international producer, is the main reason behind an increase in worker deaths and oil spills last year, the company said at its annual general meeting at The Hague on May 19.

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Nigeria’s main militant group said it attacked a gas plant operated by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s second-largest oil company.

Two British oil workers kidnapped in Nigeria four months ago are alive and well, the militant group holding them has said.

A security contractor said the man was working for an oil services firm when he was seized by unidentified gunmen in the city of Port Harcourt.

Unknown gunmen attacked a navy houseboat in southern Nigeria protecting a Royal Dutch Shell crude oil flow station on Friday, a military spokesman said.

Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Nigerian security forces killed six unidentified gunmen in the oil-rich Niger Delta region and recovered weapons used by the attackers, a military spokesman said.

In September MEND staged what it called a six-day "oil war," attacking oil installations and forcing Royal Dutch Shell to warn it might not be able to meet all its export commitments from Nigeria.

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The main militant group in Nigeria's oil region said it freed a Ukrainian and three Nigerian hostages, while still holding two British nationals.

The six day "oil war" forced Royal Dutch Shell, the company hardest hit, to warn it may not be able to meet all of its contractual obligations on oil exports from Nigeria.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in a statement that it used high explosives to destroy the conduit run by a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

ABUJA, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Nigerian militants said on Thursday they had attacked another Royal Dutch Shell-operated crude oil pipeline as part of their "oil war" against the oil sector and military.

The most prominent militant group in southern Nigeria -- the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) -- said Thursday it had destroyed a major oil pipeline belonging to Royal Dutch Shell.

LAGOS, Nigeria — Fighting between militant groups and the Nigerian military in the oil-rich Niger Delta on Wednesday entered a fifth day in the region’s worst violence in two years, raising fears of an escalation in the unrest that has plagued the area.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in an e-mail that it had destroyed the pipeline. If confirmed, it would be the group's second attack in a 24-hour period.

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Nigeria's main militant group in the Niger River delta said it destroyed an oil-pumping station operated by a unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc as raids against the oil industry in the region entered a fifth day.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in a statement that its fighters used explosives to destroy a pipeline operated by the local unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC

Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Nigerian militants claimed responsibility for sabotaging an oil pipeline operated by a unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc as attacks against the oil industry in the Niger River delta entered a fourth day.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said its militant forces "stormed" the Alakiri flow station complex, operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company, set fire to the facility and "razed it to the ground."

Shell evacuates some oil staff after Nigeria attack

Mon Sep 15, 2008 8:11am EDT

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, Sept 15 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L:Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has evacuated nearly 100 employees from a Nigerian oil flow station in the Niger Delta after it was attacked by militants on Monday, an industry source said.

“As a result of the attack on the Alakiri flow station operated by Shell, the company has evacuated all of its employees from the facility. There are close to 100 staff,” the source, who wished not to be named, told Reuters. read more

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Nigerian militants attacked a Royal Dutch Shell operated oil installation on Monday in a third day of heavy fighting with security forces in the Niger Delta region.

Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the main militant group in Nigeria's oil region, said its fighters destroyed a Royal Dutch Shell Plc flow station in a third day of attacks on oil installations.

Army helicopters, jet fighters and gunboats have pounded rebel positions since Saturday, prompting the main militant group to launch its own full-scale offensive against oil facilities.

"Militants in about 10 speedboats attacked a Shell location at Alakiri," said Musa. "The attack lasted over an hour. Dynamite and bombs were massively detonated by the miscreants."

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian militants attacked a Royal Dutch Shell oil flow station on Monday in a third day of heavy fighting with security forces in the Niger Delta region, the military said.

Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Nigerian militants said they killed at least 22 soldiers and destroyed parts of Royal Dutch Shell Plc's Soku gas plant and Chevron Corp.'s Kula oil pumping station in overnight attacks.

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Chevron Corp. (CVX) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) Sunday said they were looking into reports of attacks at or near their Nigerian facilities following claims by Nigerian militants.

LAGOS, Nigeria: Militant fighters battled Nigerian troops for a second day Sunday, and the main militant group said the rare clashes represented a state of war in Africa's biggest crude producer.

"Oil companies are warned to move out their workers within the next 24 hours because a hurricane is about to sweep through oil installations in the entire Niger Delta region," MEND, the country's most prominent militant group, said in an emailed statement.

Just before the Saudi meeting, a group calling itself the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) attacked a Royal Dutch Shell floating production and storage vessel 65 miles off the Nigerian coast and knocked 200,000 barrels a day offline for five days. That episode brought the total disruption in Nigerian production in June close to a million barrels a day, which analysts say is a big reason crude prices climbed above $145 a barrel.

(Reuters) - Twelve Nigerian militants and one naval officer were killed in a gunbattle on Friday near a Royal Dutch Shell natural gas plant in the oil-producing Niger Delta...

Shell is the worst hit by militant sabotage in Nigeria. Repeated attacks to oil facilities have halted about a fifth of oil supplies from the world's eighth largest oil exporter, contributing to a rise in oil prices above $100 this year.

Officials with Nigeria's Joint Task Force, NNPC and Royal Dutch Shell could not confirm the attack, which the militant group said occurred early on Monday morning.

Mend's attacks on oil installations, including one on a Shell offshore field in June, have cut the country's oil production by at least 20 per cent. As a result, Angola has now overtaken Nigeria as Africa's largest oil producer.

Royal Dutch Shell is losing 40,000 barrels of Nigerian oil every day after militants destroyed a pipeline this week, the company’s chief executive said yesterday.

Royal Dutch Shell declared force majeure on Tuesday on its Nigerian Bonny Light crude oil exports for July to September following an attack by militants on an oil trunk pipeline in the Niger Delta on Monday.

Nigeria's main militant group said it bombed two Royal Dutch Shell PLC-operated oil pipelines early Monday and warned more attacks were planned over the next month, helping push up oil prices by more than $1 a barrel.

The main militant group in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region said it sabotaged two pipelines today in Rivers state. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said today in an e-mailed statement that the pipelines are located in Kula and Rumuekpe and that it believes they are operated by a unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta leader says Monday's attack on two pipelines owned by a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC took place in Nigeria's southern Rivers State.

The main militant group in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta said on Wednesday it would attack major oil pipelines in the next 30 days to prove it had not received payment from the government to end its campaign.

According to the source, the incident occurred when 55 security personnel, members of a private security outfit operated by a retired senior naval captain, deliberately shut down the FPSO to protest Shell’s treatment of Nigerian workers and the non-payment of salaries.

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell will resume meeting its contract obligations from its offshore Bonga oilfield in Nigeria, shut down last month because of a militant attack, a spokesman said Thursday.

Renewed concerns about supply disruptions out of Nigeria also emerged as the main militant group there said it would resume attacks in the country's oil-rich river delta region because of Britain's recent pledge to back the government.