Nigerian refineries shut down due to attacks

This from the FBI's Infragard daily alert for 12/17:

4. December 22, Reuters - (International) Nigeria shuts refineries after pipeline attacks. Nigeria's state-oil company said on December 22 three of the country's four refineries were not operating because pipelines feeding the facilities were damaged in militant sabotage attacks. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said vandalism of pipelines led it to shut down the Warri, Kaduna, and Port Harcourt refineries but it did not say how long they had been out of action. Africa's most populous nation usually imports around 85 percent of its fuel needs but purchases from foreign suppliers may increase as the refinery closures are likely to cut out most of the country's 445,000 barrel per day (bpd) refining capacity. "The rate of the crude pipeline vandalism from Bonny to Port Harcourt refinery and the Escravos to Warri and Kaduna refinery is alarming and I wish to request the army to concentrate on these pipelines as they are critical to our operations," a spokesman said. The choking off of Nigeria's local oil product supply adds to signs that a resurgence in violence by militants in the oil-producing Niger Delta region is having a significant impact on Africa's largest oil and gas industry. U.S. energy firm Chevron said this week it had suspended production from a major pipeline after a sabotage attack, while fellow oil majors Shell and Exxon have also suffered outages recently. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6BL18720101222