Saudi Output Increases Made Irrelevant by Nigerian Problems

Officials from leading oil producing and consuming nations have met at a quickly arranged summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. At the summit, Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its pledge to pump 9.7 million barrels a day next month, an increase of 200,000 and the highest level in nearly 30 years. The Saudis have also pledged to produce additional oil if there is a problem meeting customer demand.

The kingdom also promise to expand production capacity, noting that it expects to achieve 12.5 million barrels per day next year and could add an additional 2.5 million barrels – if needed – with a program of massively expensive and technically advanced system improvements.

Despite the promises from Saudi Arabia, that increase in production will have no real effect on the fundamental supply of oil available to market. This week has seen attacks on the oil production infrastructure in Nigeria that has cost the African nation its position as the top oil producer in Africa. It is now #2, after Angola.

The fires resulting from oil production in the Niger River Delta can be seen from space. If you click the photo you can see other flare sites throughout the Delta.

Nigeria now pumps less than 1.5 million barrels a day, its lowest level in 25 years, rather than the 2.5m b/d it has the ability to produce, according to officials at the meeting in Jeddah. A long history of problems arising from the corruption in the Nigerian government and massive pollution. Unlike drilling in most of the Persian Gulf region where the oil fields are not replacing viable argicultural land or displacing people, the drilling in the Niger Delta is taking place on top of an ecosystem thats been home to tribal people for longer hundreds of generations.

The Niger Delta contains the 3rd largest contiguous mangrove forest in the world. Once rich in biodivesity and teeming with marine life, the area is now being rapidly degraded by petroleum production. The entire region is engulfed in what might be called a Petroleum War – a war fueled by the uncontrolled development by multinational oil conglomerates and their cronies and mafia-style henchmen in government.

Check out Marcus Bennasson’s photos of Oil spills in Niger Delta. Since the discovery of oil in Nigera over 50 years ago, the amount of oil spilled has represented the equivalent of one Exxon Valdez disaster per year.