NIGERIA: POSSIBLE ATTACK ON CHEVRON FLOWSTATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L LAGOS 000262 SIPDIS DOE FOR GPERSON, CHAYLOCK E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/11/2019 TAGS: EPET ENRG PGOV NI SUBJECT: NIGERIA: POSSIBLE ATTACK ON CHEVRON FLOWSTATION REF: A. LAGOS 230 ¶B. LAGOS 239 Classified By: Consul General Donna M. Blair for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D ) ¶1. (C) Chevron Nigeria's Government and Community Affairs Manager, Femi Odumabo, confirmed that Chevron's Utonana flowstation in Delta State was closed because of a fire caused by an explosion near the facility on June 9. The company has publicly acknowledged a fire at the flowstation, but not the explosion. Odumabo told Econoff on June 11 that the company was still investigating the cause of the blast, but believes it was the result of a militant attack. A purported spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has claimed credit for incident. Chevron reported no casualties and said all its workers were accounted for after the fire; all Americans and other expatriate staff are safe. Odumabo said the company was still assessing damage and he could not give an estimate for repair of the flowstation. ¶2. (C) Odumabo denied June 10 press reports that Chevron had shut-in 100,000 barrels of oil as a result of this latest incident. He said 100,000 barrels are still shut-in from an attack on the nearby Chevron Abiteye pipeline on May 24. (Ref A). (Note: Chevron's Managing Director told the Ambassador on May 26 that it could take two weeks for the pipeline to be repaired and the company to start flowing oil again. It appears that estimate was optimistic, although Odumabo couldn't say whether the latest incident would further delay repairs to the pipeline or the restoration of the shut-in oil production. (Ref B). End Note.) ¶3. (C) Comment: Attacks on oil facilities were fairly routine even before the mid-May up-tick in military operations and the JTF attack on militant leader Tom Polo's camp. Most attacks prior to May 15 occurred in the eastern Niger Delta region and not Delta State. While the JTF may be proud of its success against Tom Polo's Camp Five and his followers, it has been less successful in halting these hit and run attacks that damage oil facilities. The JTF may be able to secure key oil installations like the Escravos, Forcados, and Bonny terminals, however the remote pipelines, flowstations and wellheads scattered across the Niger Delta remain vulnerable to anyone with a grievance, a boat, local knowledge of the swamps, and some dynamite. Tom Polo's followers, many now presumably in hiding in local swamps, spent years stealing oil from Chevron's facilities in Delta State. They probably know the oil system in Delta State as well as Chevron does. We can expect to see continued sporadic attacks that take some oil production off-line. We also anticipate that the JTF, buoyed by its success in Delta State, will likely start similar operations in Rivers and Bayelsa. The downside of this is that the criminal and militant elements may move into neighboring states such as Imo and Abia. Both governors in these states expressed their worry to the Ambassador on May 21 that they are seeing more criminal activity in their states as a result of the pressure the JTF is putting on militants and criminals in Delta State. End Comment. BLAIR