Monday, February 20, 2006

THEY'RE DESTROYING OUR INFRASTRUCTURE! YIPPEE!

...the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) ... said it damaged Shell's Forcados oil export terminal [and] ruptured a major oil pipeline belonging to the oil giant near its Chanomi Creek oil pumping station....

Shell spokesman in Nigeria, Donald Boham, confirmed the attacks and damages, saying the company has been forced to suspend crude oil exports from the Forcados terminal that handles an average of 400,000 barrels a day.

"We can't load crude at Forcados until the damage is repaired," he told IRIN....


--Reuters/IRIN

Energy stocks BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc gained as crude oil surged after Nigerian rebel attacks cut output from Africa's largest producer of the fuel.

Uncertainty about crude supplies "lifts oil prices and feeds directly into the stock price of oil companies," said Johan Stein, head of European equities at Stockholm-based Nordea Asset Management, which manages $167 billion.

... Shell ... gained 15 pence, or 0.8 percent, to 1,810....


--Bloomberg

So Shell suffers a ruptured pipeline in Nigeria -- and its stock goes up? Does this always happen?

At a certain point, if this is a predictable pattern, wouldn't oil companies just want to hire people to sabotage their operations, because sabotage would raise the price of oil, and thus raise the price of oil stocks?

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