5月16日 ナイジェリアがアフリカ産油国ナンバー・ワンからドロップ Nigeria is no longer Africa’s top oil producer

Le lundi 16 mai 2016

6時半、快晴、21℃、52.5％　

ナイジェリアがアフリカ大陸産油国トップの座をアンゴラに奪われた。アンゴラが特に増産したわけでもない、ナイジェリアが、原油価格下落のため生産調整で減産したのでもない。20年来の低い生産になった理由はテロである。

ボコ・ハラムとの関係は分からないが、ナイジャー・デルタ・アヴェンジャーNDA-Niger Delta Avengerというグループだ。どうやらイスラミストではなく、ナショナリストないし反政府勢力のようだ。そのNDAが石油精製基地やパイプラインを破壊している。

彼らの目的は「ナイジェリア経済を麻痺させること」。破壊後、どうするのか見えてこないが、デルタの自治のようである。ビアフラのような独立を考えているのだろうか。それとも単にブハリ政権を揺さぶろうとしているのか。

既に今年に入って、ロイヤル・ダッチやシェブロンが生産を停止した。ァジップも襲われた。

NDAの姿が見えないのだが、ホーム・ページがある。

http://www.nigerdeltaavengers.com/

ブハリ大統領はNDAを犯罪者として一掃すべしと闘う姿勢を示している。ナイジェリア経済は原油依存である。軍事・警察力だけでなく、政治的話し合いの場にNDAを引きだすことも必要だろう。

パイプライン
（ナイジェリア）

Nigeria is no longer Africa’s top oil producer

May 12, 2016 Quartz Africa WRITTEN BY Yomi Kazeem

Following attacks on oil installations and facilities in the country, Nigeria’s oil production output has fallen to 20-year lows 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 Nigeria economy” unless the government accedes to its numerous demands one 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.

While the state oil company has raised its importation quota to assuage the shortage, the inability of independent importers to access foreign exchange at bank rates—thus making a profit selling at official government prices—has meant the country’s demand can simply not be met. To solve the problem, on Tuesday (May 10), the government announced a total removal of subsidies on petrol, saying marketers are “free to import” petrol subject to existing quality specifications but also set the new price of fuel at N145 ($0.73)—a 68% increase.

The move is reminiscent of a similar decision in 2012 which led to nationwide protests led by the labour union and a total shutdown of the economy. It is too early to tell if the price increase will spark similar reactions from Nigerians but if it, as the government hopes, leads to “increased supply and availability” of the petrol across the country, there will be much less for Nigerians to be angry about.