Nigerian troops launched attacks on suspected militant camps in the country’s southern oil-producing Niger River delta after a military patrol was fired upon in the area, an army spokesman said. Soldiers were attacked on May 11 by fighters of the John Togo-led Niger Delta Liberation Force, Colonel Timothy Antigha, spokesman for the joint military task force in the region, said by phone today from the oil hub of Port Harcourt. “We decided to launch an operation to flush out the militant camps we discovered them rebuilding in the creeks,” he said. “The operation is ongoing.” Attacks by armed groups in the southern delta cut about 28 percent of Nigeria’s oil exports between 2006 and 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The attacks reduced after thousands of fighters campaigning for more local control of oil revenue disarmed under a government amnesty plan. Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, is the fifth- largest source of U.S. crude imports. Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Chevron Corp. (CVX), Total SA (FP) and Eni SpA (ENI) run joint ventures with the state-owned oil company that pump more than 90 percent of the West African nation’s oil. Any reduction in Nigerian output will worsen a global shortage of light-sweet crude which has already been curtailed by fighting in Libya, according to JBC Energy Gmbh. Light-Sweet Crude “The civil war in Libya already shaved off around 1.3 million barrels a day of light-sweet crude from global supplies and a shut-in of Nigerian crude, which has become sizably lighter in recent years, would aggravate the shortage even further,” the Vienna-based researcher said in a note. So far this year, Nigerian crude output averaged 2.15 million barrels a day, up from 1.82 million barrels in 2009, according to JBC’s estimates. The latest military raids against the militant group, also known as NDLF, are happening near the town of Ayakoromor where the military had attacked the rebels last year, Antigha said. “NDLF leaders and soldiers survived the aerial attack,” the militant group said in an e-mailed statement. The fighters, however, won’t retaliate by attacking oil installations because the group wants to give President Goodluck Jonathan time to address its demands, it said. Light-sweet crude is less dense and contains less sulfur, meaning it can produce more profitable fuels such as gasoline and diesel. To contact the reporter on this story: Dulue Mbachu in Abuja at dmbachu@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.

Source