Niger Delta Avengers Attack Eni Pipeline in Nigeria

Excerpt from: UPI

Italian energy company Eni confirmed Friday that it was the target of sabotage in the Niger Delta, with a minor impact on its equity production.

A group calling itself the Niger Delta Avengers took credit for an attack on pipeline infrastructure in the southern Bayelsa state that's operated by a subsidiary of Italian energy company Eni.

A spokesperson for the company confirmed the attack in a statement emailed to UPI. About 4,000 barrels of oil equivalent production equity to Eni was impacted, though the spokesperson said overall operations were still under force majeure, meaning it's freed from fulfilling its contract because of circumstances beyond its control.

The attack come nearly one month to the day after the group said it blew up a pipeline in Bayelsa state said to be the largest operated by Eni's subsidiary in the Niger Delta region.

The Niger Delta Avengers surfaced early this year, launching a militant campaign against national and international energy companies working in the Niger Delta. The group accuses the government of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari of favoring oil and gas interests over the interests of the people in the Niger Delta.

By the World Bank's estimates, more than 70 percent of the government's revenue comes from oil. In a report on the job market in Nigeria, the World Bank found widespread polarization as the vast majority of the population are trapped in low-productivity and traditional subsistence activities. Only a small portion of the workforce is benefiting from any economic growth in the country, the report found.

The government last month said progress was made on brokering a truce with Niger Delta militants, though the group itself has maintained it was not party to any talks with the Buhari administration.

The group this week was suspended from Twitter after breaching the site's policies.

"Niger Delta Avenger is not on social networks anymore," spokesman Mudoch Agbinibo said in a statement.

West Africa Could Lead The World's Next Production Boom

During the early 1970s, Saudi Arabia cut production as a reminder that it held the cards to the world’s petroleum resources. What the swing country did not count on was the slew of development and production that would subsequently take place in the North Sea. As a result, a new oil supply was born far away from the Middle East.

Fast forward to today: With oil saturating the market again, Saudi Arabia has kept its spigots on this time to try and prove once again its place on top of the hydrocarbon pyramid. Despite its effort to slow production – primarily from shale in the United States – there is still room for surprise in the oil marketplace.

The small offshore oilfields of West Africa, if exploited properly, could become the next big economical play even as oil prices hover around $60 a barrel, said Keith Millheim, a director at Atlantis Offshore, an offshore technology company focused on well testing, production and drilling. And, all it takes is one adventurous company to get the ball rolling.

Cheap Oil Is 'Bad' for the Economy

It's been about a year since oil prices started their historic drop, falling from above $100 a barrel to a bottom of about $45 in March. After creeping back to around $60, prices are shaky again amid news of a nuclear deal with Iran and record Saudi production.

And low oil prices are good for growth, right?

OPEC Shows It Still Matters, and Right Now It’s Bearish for Oil

The last time OPEC met, its decision to leave output unchanged cast doubt on the group’s relevance.

That was a little premature.

From the ministers’ market-moving comments to the array of oil executives gathered in Vienna to court new ventures, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries showed no loss of stature in the run-up to Friday’s meeting, at which it again decided to maintain its current output target. While OPEC has ceded the role of adjusting supply to balance the market, its strategy of keeping up production is still driving prices lower now -- and possibly higher later on.

'What If' Technology Rapidly Simulates Offshore Oil Spills

New software developed by scientists in the US could prevent future hydrocarbon spills and accelerate the response to those that do occur. The team behind the technology explains more.

New software developed by scientists at the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in the US could help prevent future hydrocarbon leaks and is already providing a much better understanding of how leaks behave in different offshore scenarios, potentially speeding response times to spills if and when they do occur.

The Blowout and Spill Occurrence Model, or BLOSOM, is able to rapidly simulate offshore spills in hypothetical 'what if' scenarios, taking into account everything from ocean currents to the volume of the leak, and may also, when used in tandem with other DOE tools, be able to prevent incidents in the future by identifying trends and technology gaps that contribute to a higher risk of spills.

Elly Earls caught up with Kelly Rose, Lawrence Sim, Lucy Romeo, Joe Umhoefer and Jason Vielma, the NETL's Offshore Integrated Assessment Modelling (IAM) team and the brains behind the technology, to find out more about how BLOSOM works and the impact it could have on future spill prevention efforts.

Crude Production Growth to Slow, Could Open Up To A Future Of Stable Price

Non-OPEC liquids growth potential of 5.5 MMb/p over the next five years has been reduced by over 2 MMb/d to 3.3 MMb/d, according to forecasts by energy analysts Rystad Energy.

The Norwegian firm’s research shows investments in oil and gas production are estimated to drop 20% in 2015, compared to 2014. Outside OPEC, US$200 billion in yearly capex is considered to be axed over a two-year period.

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The year thus far has seen a lot of fluctuations per country production and a large effect coming in from the drop in oil prices by over 60% in November 2014. The withdrawal of investments from oil and gas projects across the continent have not been so surprising owing to issues ranging from the current oil price, civil unrest, unfavourable policies and diverse politically uncertain scenarios.