LAGOS, Nigeria (Dow Jones)--The worst fighting in Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region in eight months, which has seen the military use gunships and fighter jets, could represent a significant change in the government's approach to stamping out a three-year-old insurgency that has disrupted nearly a quarter of Nigeria's oil production and threatened the country's already fragile economy.
In response to the hijacking of two oil service vessels last Wednesday, one operated by the Nigerian state-run oil company, the Nigerian military's Joint Task Force, or JTF, began a series of attacks Friday on suspected militant camps using more than a dozen gunboats, several helicopter gunships and fighter jets.
The military claimed a number of victories last week, and claimed another militant camp had been destroyed early Monday.
The scale, coordination and likely cost of the military campaign is unlike any undertaken before in Nigeria's effort to rid the Delta of militants, analysts say.
"The military spent the last 18 months getting together their 'all-arms force' for this kind of operation," a security analyst said. "The federal government has had enough."
Nigeria's oil-dependent economy has been hit hard by the economic crisis as oil prices plummeted and foreign investors packed their bags. Domestic fuel shortages and embarrassing political corruption scandals have added to the pressure. But Nigeria's most prominent and persistent headache, the Niger Delta, had experienced months of relative calm. No longer.
So far the fighting has been limited to western Delta state, where the two main international oil companies operating in the region, Chevron Corp. (CVX) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA), haven't indicated any disruptions to supply, nor have they reported any staff evacuations.
A worker for an oil-service company who was stranded on a houseboat near the site of the fighting, however, said that Chevron employees who normally live on the houseboat while working had all been evacuated to the nearby Escravos camp or the town of Warri.
Much of the fighting has taken place near the massive Escravos terminal, home to several oil and gas projects, including a $6 billion gas-to-liquid joint venture between Chevron and the state-run Nigeria National Petroleum Corp. that would produce 34,000 barrels per day once completed.
The main militant group in the region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, declared an "all-out war" last week and issued a statement Monday that saying it would block key water channels used by oil industry vessels.
"This means vessels now ply such routes at their risk," the statement said.
MEND also claimed two attacks on pipelines over the weekend, both unconfirmed.
Shell said in a statement it is investigating the claims but didn't elaborate. Chevron declined to comment on the security situation in the region.
-By Will Connors, Contributing to Dow Jones Newswires [email protected]
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Contributing to DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 18, 2009 13:01 ET (17:01 GMT)
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