JTF Seizes 1,000 Tonnes of Crude Oil in Rivers

The Joint Task Force (JTF) operating in the Niger Delta said that it arrested a vessel laden with 1,000 tonnes of crude oil off the coast of Bonny Island in Rivers State. 
It paraded nine suspected crew members, all of them Nigerians, before journalists in Bonny.

The Two Brigade Army spokesman, Maj. Michael Etete, said the Nigerian-registered vessel, MT Atlantic Star, was arrested while illegally tapping crude oil from a pipeline.

He said the arrests, by troops of Sector Two in Bonny, followed a military intelligence report on December 29. He restated JTF’s commitment towards stamping out oil theft, illegal oil bunkering and other criminal activities within its area of responsibility in line with its mandate.
The captain of the vessel, Mr. Rauf Rasak, told reporters that the vessel was hijacked by six unknown gunmen who threatened to kill the crew members if he refused to cooperate with their illicit directives.

Rasak further claimed that the gunmen immediately took over navigation of the vessel, anchored it in Bonny and thereafter loaded the vessel with the illegal crude oil. The captain claimed that the crew was innocent of the charges being brought against them by the JTF.

Shell resumes shipments of crude from Forcados, Bonny

Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell said it had resumed shipments of crude from its Nigerian export terminals Bonny and Forcados following the repair of its damaged supply pipelines.
Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary had suspended loadings at Bonny and Forcados on October 19 because of theft, flooding and damage to the supply pipelines.
Pipeline damage and associated spills are common in the Niger Delta region as a result of oil theft to feed the lucrative black market. Militants claiming to be fighting for a fairer distribution of oil revenue have also regularly blown up pipelines, though such attacks have decreased since a 2009 amnesty deal.
Although Shell did not disclose the volume of crude exports affected by the shut-down, industry sources said both Bonny and Forcados account for substantial percentage of Nigeria’s total oil exports.

Two naval guards killed, four foreigners kidnapped by pirates off Nigeria waters

Two Nigerian naval guards were killed while four foreigners were kidnapped by pirates when they attacked a ship being used by an oil servicing company in the waters off Niger delta, Nigeria. According to the Navy spokesman Commodore Kabir Aliyu, the foreigners are one Malaysian, one Iranian, a Thai and an Indonesian.

The attack took place around 33 nautical miles off the coast of Bonny, Nigeria's main oil export terminal. Netherlands-based Sea Trucks Group, whose boat Jascon was attacked, confirmed that four of its staff had been seized and that two other security guards were also wounded in the attack. The two remaining injured security personnel are now in Port Harcourt hospital for treatment. Sea Trucks Group is making every effort to find out where the kidnappers.