Nigeria is no longer Africa’s top oil producer

Following attacks on oil installations and facilities in the country, Nigeria’s oil production output has fallen to 20-years low and slipped behind Angola as the continent’s top oil producer. The attacks are the result of a resurgent militancy in Nigeria’s oil rich Niger-Delta region where a new group, called the Niger Delta Avengers, have taken up arms, attacking pipelines and major installations.

In February, Royal Dutch Shell stopped oil shipments after an attack on a key pipeline which supplies a terminal with an export output of about 250,000 barrels a day.Shell has also been forced to evacuate a major oil field after militants issued threats of an attack. Another oil company, Chevron, shut down a facility costing the country around 90,000 barrels daily after it was breached by unknown persons  The attacks have also hit pipelines supplying local refineries and electricity gas lines in the country. 

The Niger Delta Avengers group says its goal is to cripple the Nigerian economy unless the government accedes to it's numerous demandsone of which is the immediate clean up of Ogoniland. Another is the continuation of an amnesty programme for militants in the region. In response, Nigeria’s president Buhari has ordered the military to crush the group

The disruption to Nigeria’s production output compounds the country’s woes amid low oil prices. The resource accounts for 70% of Nigeria’s earnings and at a time when the country is trying to fund a record budget deficit, timing could not be worse. Within its shores, Nigeria is still dealing with a fuel shortage crisis  triggered by the government’s insistence on avoiding a devaluation of its currency despite a steep drop against the dollar.

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Source: yahoo news