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Exxon Mobil Shuts Nigerian Gas Platform After Attack

17 November 2010 01:01 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Exxon Mobil Corp.â€™s Nigerian unit closed a natural gas and condensate platform in the countryâ€™s south after eight workers were kidnapped in an attack yesterday, APA reports quoting â€œBloombergâ€.
Production of about 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day has been shut at the Oso platform in Akwa Ibom state, Gloria Essien-Danner, an Exxon spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement today. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta claimed responsibility and threatened more attacks on oil installations, spokesman Jomo Gbomo said by e-mail today.
The southern Niger River delta, home to Nigeriaâ€™s oil and gas industry, has seen a new surge of violence since a government amnesty in 2009 led to the disarming of thousands of fighters and a period of relative quiet. Seven foreign workers were abducted in an attack on Afren Plcâ€™s offshore Okoro field on Nov. 7, about a week after an Eni SpA pipeline was sabotaged.
Attacks by armed groups in the delta cut Nigeriaâ€™s oil production by more than 28 percent from 2006 to 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Nigeria is Africaâ€™s largest oil producer and fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports.