ABUJA, Nigeria -- After months of relative quiet, Nigeria's most prominent, and most media-savvy, militant group has launched a fresh series of attacks against military patrols, petroleum infrastructure and oil workers.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, an amorphous collection of militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta, has claimed in the past two days to have sunk five military gunboats, injured at least two soldiers and seized two oil-service vessels, kidnapping both crews.
Col. Rabe Abubakar, spokesman for the Nigerian military's Joint Task Force operating in the Delta, denied that gunboats had been attacked. But the command confirmed Thursday that the MV Spirit, a vessel subcontracted from the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., was hijacked Wednesday on its way to the southern port city of Warri. Its 15-man crew was kidnapped, the military confirmed.
Col. Abubakar also confirmed that a separate cargo ship was hijacked Wednesday in the same location, but he didn't provide details about the number of its captured crew or their nationalities.
Earlier in the week, MEND ratcheted up its rhetoric, warning international oil companies to abandon the Niger Delta in 24 hours or risk increased attacks. On Thursday, it extended the deadline to 48 hours, which ends early Saturday. Over the years, MEND's threats have been difficult to gauge. At times, emails warning of sophisticated attacks go off as advertised. Other times, they aren't acted upon.
As the price of oil fell from record highs last summer, violent disruptions in the Delta did little to affect international oil prices. But now that the price of oil has been rising and demand for fuel is expected to increase over the summer, attacks that disrupt delivery of Nigerian crude could cause prices to rise. Crude-oil prices Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 1%, or 60 cents a barrel, to $58.62.
Attacks have cut oil output from Nigeria by nearly one-quarter over the past three years to about 1.6 million barrels a day.
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A6
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