ExxonMobil has shut in oil production in Nigeria after armed gunmen boarded an offshore facility Sunday night, after a fresh militant attack in the heartland of the OPEC member's oil industry.
The oil major released few details about the disruption, but a senior oil union official said Tuesday production from the Oso field in the southern Akwa Ibom state has been suspended.
The Oso field averages around 75,000 b/d, which is exempt from OPEC quota restrictions.
ExxonMobil said armed men boarded the offshore facility, operated by its Mobil Producing Nigeria unit in a joint venture with the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, or NNPC, late on Sunday.
Nigeria's main rebel group MEND on Tuesday said it was behind the attack, the second such raid for which it has claimed responsibility in a week.
Nigerian oil workers' union, Pengassan, said eight of its members, who are employed by ExxonMobil, were abducted during the raid.
MEND--the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta--also warned that it planned more attacks on oil installations in the southern oil producing region.
"In the coming weeks, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta will launch a major operation that will simultaneously affect oil facilities across the Niger Delta," it said. WARNS AGAINST MILITARY CLASHES
The military threatened on Saturday to raid the camps of armed gangs in the delta, warning civilians to leave the vicinity.
MEND said one military operation had already been carried out against one of its camps in Rivers state Monday, adding "indiscriminate bombing" would endanger the lives of the captives it was holding.
"Expatriate hostages held at this location had to be removed and relocated for their safety as rocket attacks by the Nigerian military came very close to these individuals," the group said.
"No amount of military activities will secure the release of these hostages," it added.
Seven foreign workers were abducted in an attack on Afren's offshore Okoro field on November 7, about a week after an Eni pipeline was sabotaged in a separate attack.
ExxonMobil's joint venture produces 720,000 b/d of crude, condensate and natural gas liquids from 90 offshore platforms in the country.
EXPORTS COULD BE HIT, ANOTHER GROUP EMERGES
The kidnappings and recent bombings in Abuja mark a sharp escalation in MEND operations just as oil production was shown signs of recovery.
A government-brokered amnesty in 2009 led to the disarming of thousands of fighters and a period of relative calm in the restive region.
Nigeria's current oil production averages at 2.2 million b/d but if the violence continues, its exports could be hit.
There have already been warnings that violence could increase ahead of presidential elections slated for early next year.
President Goodluck Jonathan is from the Niger Delta, and he faces pressure to bring an end to the unrest that has disrupted oil production in the region in the last few years.
Meanwhile, another armed group, which identified itself as the Niger Delta Liberation Force under the leadership of General John Togo, said in an emailed statement to reporters yesterday it was "no longer part of the fraudulent amnesty."
It said it will target oil installations in fresh attacks.
"This time, we will operate on both land and sea," the group said in the statement. "Oil installations are our target."
The oil major released few details about the disruption, but a senior oil union official said Tuesday production from the Oso field in the southern Akwa Ibom state has been suspended.
The Oso field averages around 75,000 b/d, which is exempt from OPEC quota restrictions.
ExxonMobil said armed men boarded the offshore facility, operated by its Mobil Producing Nigeria unit in a joint venture with the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, or NNPC, late on Sunday.
Nigeria's main rebel group MEND on Tuesday said it was behind the attack, the second such raid for which it has claimed responsibility in a week.
Nigerian oil workers' union, Pengassan, said eight of its members, who are employed by ExxonMobil, were abducted during the raid.
MEND--the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta--also warned that it planned more attacks on oil installations in the southern oil producing region.
"In the coming weeks, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta will launch a major operation that will simultaneously affect oil facilities across the Niger Delta," it said. WARNS AGAINST MILITARY CLASHES
The military threatened on Saturday to raid the camps of armed gangs in the delta, warning civilians to leave the vicinity.
MEND said one military operation had already been carried out against one of its camps in Rivers state Monday, adding "indiscriminate bombing" would endanger the lives of the captives it was holding.
"Expatriate hostages held at this location had to be removed and relocated for their safety as rocket attacks by the Nigerian military came very close to these individuals," the group said.
"No amount of military activities will secure the release of these hostages," it added.
Seven foreign workers were abducted in an attack on Afren's offshore Okoro field on November 7, about a week after an Eni pipeline was sabotaged in a separate attack.
ExxonMobil's joint venture produces 720,000 b/d of crude, condensate and natural gas liquids from 90 offshore platforms in the country.
EXPORTS COULD BE HIT, ANOTHER GROUP EMERGES
The kidnappings and recent bombings in Abuja mark a sharp escalation in MEND operations just as oil production was shown signs of recovery.
A government-brokered amnesty in 2009 led to the disarming of thousands of fighters and a period of relative calm in the restive region.
Nigeria's current oil production averages at 2.2 million b/d but if the violence continues, its exports could be hit.
There have already been warnings that violence could increase ahead of presidential elections slated for early next year.
President Goodluck Jonathan is from the Niger Delta, and he faces pressure to bring an end to the unrest that has disrupted oil production in the region in the last few years.
Meanwhile, another armed group, which identified itself as the Niger Delta Liberation Force under the leadership of General John Togo, said in an emailed statement to reporters yesterday it was "no longer part of the fraudulent amnesty."
It said it will target oil installations in fresh attacks.
"This time, we will operate on both land and sea," the group said in the statement. "Oil installations are our target."
