February 27, 2003

Nigerian petrol supplies 'sabotaged'

The Nigerian Government has blamed recent petrol shortages on political sabotage.
[...]
Oil officials have provided a raft of other reasons for the sudden shortage of petrol:

* Panic-buying;
* Petrol hoarding;
* Striking oil workers;
* Broken-down refineries;
* Fears of war in Iraq;
* World oil markets.
Nigeria is a major oil exporter but most petrol is imported.

How strange. (Whassup with that? Do they need the export income so bad they won't let their own citizens have their own oil?)
First Venezuela, now Nigeria...and they're both non-Arab members of OPEC, too.
Sort of.
Nigeria is "half-Muslim," with most of the people following Islam and some places even instituting shari'a in the northern part of the country, whereas the southern half is Christian.
National elections are due to be held in April, with the Christian Obasanjo running for another term against a Muslim candidate named Muhammadu Buhari.
I really have no idea why there should be an oil shortage in the land of OPEC's 5th largest producer, but then there is this war that the "West" is waging against Iraq...
Coincidence?
Back in SA, the Shieks of Araby promised today that they would increase output from their fields to meet current and future heightened demands due to war "shortages:"
(from Reuters today:Oil Shoots to Post-Gulf War High)

U.S. officials said on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest exporter, had agreed to increase crude production by 1.5 million bpd if Iraqi exports were interrupted by war. The kingdom is already supplying extra crude to U.S. refiners to make up for the loss of Venezuela's exports.

Those crazy Sauds!
Surely they wouldn't use the problems of others as an opportunity to make more moolah for themselves?
They know, from 1991, that the price of oil will go up anyway with Iraq's supplies temporarily out of the picture, but if they could create an even bigger world shortfall in supply and drive the price of their oil even higher by getting pals like Venezuela and Nigeria to sit out the war, too...
Nah. That would be selfish, greedy and cunning.
So unlike them.