Unrelenting attacks by militants and the consequent
closure of terminals for repairs is taking a toll on economic activities
in some of Nigeria’s oil producing states as thousands of local service
contractors, vendors, temporary oil workers and ancillary service
providers now idle away on account of shutting down of the terminals.
This is having a telling effect on local businesses which
have shut down their operations, limiting tax revenue to the states,
spiralling unemployment and leading to low capacity utilisation, as is
the case with Marine Support Base Shipyard, where several new boats
constructed by the company for the International Oil Companies (IOC)
operations lie idle.
investigation revealed that while some of the
contractors are still maintained on the contractor register of the IOCs,
many of them have not been mobilised for several months. This is
leading to shutting down of businesses that serve the IOC’s, staff
lay-offs and anticipated upsurge of criminal activities.
Worse hit are those engaged for Shell Petroleum
Development Company (SPDC), Chevron Nigeria, and ExxonMobil affiliates,
whose facilities have mostly been relieved of essential staff while they
undergo repairs.
The July 14 declaration of force majeure – or freedom from
contracted obligations because of extraordinary circumstance – which
the company attributed to ‘system anomaly’ but which the Niger Delta
Avengers claimed responsibility for, led to the closure of the company’s
300,000 barrels per day (b/pd) Qua Iboe terminal in Eket, evacuation of
essential staff and shut-in of the terminal.
Home to over 400,000 people, Eket, the second largest city
in Akwa Ibom comprises people of Eket, Esit Eket, Ibeno and Onne Local
government areas. It is a thriving hub of new oil and gas business, with
more than 250 companies providing support services such as catering,
flights, transport and exports.
“Business has slowed here since the company (ExxonMobil)
moved a lot of its people away from the area,” said Harry Ime, who works
for Ramsas Transport company which operates bus services in and around
Eket.
Inquiries at high end hotels such as Villa Marina, Royalty Hotels and Eden, all in Eket, suggests that they are witnessing a lull in patronage since the company shut its operations.
The scenario is not much different with other IOCs which
now render skeletal services at platforms that have come under sporadic
attack.
“I was last mobilised for work in February, before they
(Niger Delta Avengers) blew up Shell facilities and till today, we are
still waiting to be called,” said Martins Ndulue, a staff of a company
contracted for SPDC.
Another source who renders vendor service to a company
contracted by an indigenous marginal field operator, told BusinessDay
that the departure of the IOCs staff from onshore platforms in the
creeks, worse hit by militant attacks has slowed business considerably.
“Since the field workers returned from
platforms that were attacked by the militants, we have not been engaged.
I have had to lay off half of my staff, the others were placed on
contract,” he said.
checks of tenders by IOCs showed that they
were too few and far between, as upstream investments dip on low oil
prices and bruising militant attacks.
“Generally, business has been slow, but it just got worse
after the problems there, though the police said it was a problem with
their pipeline that made them close down,” Jude Monday, an accounting
staff in one of the upscale hotels, close to an IOC told BusinessDay.
A source in ExxonMobil, who craved anonymity said the
company has increased threat levels, following threats to lives of
personnel from militant activities. As precautionary measures, it has
deployed even essential staff away from Eket, while threat assessment is
on-going.
“ExxonMobil takes seriously its policy of ensuring the
safety of lives of its personnel and a death of its staff resulting from
militancy will leave many management heads rolling,” said the source.
It would be recalled that a statement from the Niger Delta
Avengers, following the July 14 force majeure declaration, warned the
company not to carry out any repairs.
“If ExxonMobil fails to listen to us (Niger Delta
Avengers), your personnel are going to be our next casualties, not
pipelines,” said the group.
“We all have a responsibility to manage risk as part of
our roles, be that technical, operational or financial. Identifying,
assessing and managing the risks is key to our operations integrity.”
said Lynne Lachenmyer, ExxonMobil Safety, security, health and
environment vice president, on the company’s website.
About 24 militant attacks since January have led to over
1,000 vandalised points, loss of about 1 million barrels per day
production in May, creating an $11bn hole in the 2016 budget with a loss
of 22 lives.
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