Chevron attacked a fifth time

US oil giant Chevron say production output was unaffected by the recent attacks on its facilities by MEND because the pipelines had been shut down before the incident.

This is the fifth attack on the company in Delta State in less than a month.

Femi Odumabo, general manager policy, government and public affairs confirmed that “the facilities were already shut-in prior to the incident”.

After MEND’s first attack on May 24, Chevron shut-in its operations around Delta State, declaring force majeure on 100,000 barrels per day of oil output.

The violence pushed oil prices above $60 per barrel as government troops launched their biggest offensive against militants in the Niger Delta region.

Oil markets shrugged off the latest violence, focusing rather on the broader global economy. The recent price rally which led to an eight-month high of $72 per barrel last week was underpinned by hopes of an economic recovery rather than the Friday attack.

Lukman Rewane, an economist and managing director of Financial Derivatives, a Lagos based investment banking company, remarked that “oil prices at $65 and above works in our favour because it reduces the amount of adjustments we have to make.”

He said that oil revenue depends on two things; “quota, and the (Niger Delta) disturbance.”

“Production is another issue. I’m concerned about the production, even though Chevron says the attacks have not affected production.” He said. “Our oil revenue is price multiply by volume.”

Chevron has an average total daily production of 376,000 barrels of crude oil, 181 million cubic feet of natural gas and 16,000 barrels of liquefied petroleum gas.

Chevron holds a 40 per cent interest in 13 concessions covering 2.2 million acres (8,900 sq km) operated under a joint-venture arrangement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.