Sunday, January 29, 2006

What price for oil?


Photo: IsraelAloja

http://www.waado.org/Environment/OilFires_2000/ElumeRiverFire/FireImages.html


It has been reported by Reuters Thursday that the Nigerian army has moved extra troops into the Niger Delta to try and counter recent attacks by militia on foreign oil companies. The most recent was on the headquarters of Italian oil company Agip where nine locals were killed. A five week campaign by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has included sabotage and kidnapping, helping to push oil prices to a four month high.

Such militia have many reasons for doing what they do. Overall, they are tired of having their people walked over by their government and foreigners, all for sake of oil. One tribe that is affected by oil exploration within the delta are the Urhobo people. There is plenty of information about their culture and history at http://www.waado.org/Contents.html . Here you can find their 'environment' link, which documents various environmental disasters caused by oil exploration and a reckless disregard for the local peoples.

As we fill up at the local petrol/gas station we need to be far more aware of how our oil purchase is affecting other peoples and their environments. We are not innocent.

2 Comments:

At 8:54 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

As the 5th highest exporter of oil to the US, Nigeria looks set to be the next Iraq. The US has stated its intention to double its imports of oil from Nigeria by 2015, so we can expect to see jarheads in the Niger delta pretty soon.

 
At 3:31 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oil prices firm on further unrest in Nigeria
Kevin Morrison
Published: March 10 2006 11:43 http://news.ft.com/cms/s/453d354c-b029-11da-a142-0000779e2340.html

Militants in Nigeria killed four soldiers and one policeman in an unsuccessful attempt to capture a fuel tanker in the Niger Delta. Previous attacks have already cut the West African country’s oil production by a fifth to about 2m barrels a day.

Oil prices have now recovered all of the losses since Wednesday when the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to keep output quotas steady and US crude stockpiles swelled to six year highs.

So who's going to open the betting on when the US will kick off the first Nigeria War?

 

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