afrol News, 19 June - World oil prices rose to US$137 dollars a barrel on Thursday, following closure of Royal Dutch Shell's Bonga oilfield in Nigeria after an overnight militant attack.

Nigeria which has slipped to position two in Africa after Angola, due to relentless violence in onshore and other fields in creeks of the Niger delta, saw a closure of offshore oil installation which produces about 200,000 barrels per day.

Royal Dutch Shell spokesman Olav Ljosne confirmed an attack, but gave no details on when the plant would resume operations.

Nigeria's southern Niger delta region has seen most militant attacks during the last two years, targeted mainly on oil infrastructure pushing production down to a quarter of total oil production.

Militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimed responsibility for the attack, further saying it had captured an American citizen from oil services company Tidex in the process.

MEND said it would release a hostage in a few hours to prevent 'opportunists' ransoming the captive. “This man was supposed to only be released in exchange for all Niger Delta hostages being held in northern Nigeria by the Nigerian government,” MEND statement said.

“We ask all workers in the Bonga fields to evacuate for their own safety as the military cannot protect them,” MEND also added.

The group said its main objective had been to blow up computerised control room coordinating operations from the field but had been unable to access the target.

Army spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Sagir Musa confirmed the attack but said the situation had been brought under control.

The current oil price hiking had heavily impacted on most African states which had also seen food prices pushed high. Many African states had recently experienced riots over escalating food prices in the continent.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories