Piracy Attacks on Oil Tankers Increased In Nigeria Last Year – Report

There are indications that pirates activities in Nigeria, especially as it concerns petroleum tankers did not decline last year, according to analysis by the Denmark-based maritime security intelligence concern Risk Intelligence, It merely moved elsewhere.
Hellenicshippingnews.com quoting Tanker Operator, said in total, Risk Intelligence recorded 70 Nigeria-related attacks against offshore oil and gas and maritime targets in 2011 – up from 58 recorded in 2010.

There are indications that pirates activities in Nigeria, especially as it concerns petroleum tankers did not decline last year, according to analysis by the Denmark-based maritime security intelligence concern Risk Intelligence, It merely moved elsewhere.
Hellenicshippingnews.com quoting Tanker Operator, said in total, Risk Intelligence recorded 70 Nigeria-related attacks against offshore oil and gas and maritime targets in 2011 – up from 58 recorded in 2010.
Pirates began to focus on product tankers in December 2010, when they attacked the Italian tanker ‘Valle di Cordoba’ off Cotonou.
Last year, they attacked 30 tankers off Lagos, Lomé, and Cotonou and two more off the Niger Delta.
“The 24 attacks in the international waters offshore Benin and Togo in 2011 were an opportunistic move, driven by internal Nigerian developments” said Dirk Steffen, Risk Intelligence’s director of consultancy. “These included the amnesty for former Niger Delta militants, fuel subsidies and political pressure on criminal networks in Nigeria.”
The pirates hijacked 14 vessels for short periods and transferred petroleum product cargoes into small tankers.
“Evidence provided by ship’s crews and by the Nigerian Navy suggests that several of the receiving vessels were operating for Nigerian interests out of Lagos and the Niger Delta. Those appear to have close links to the long-standing illegal oil bunkering business in Nigeria,” added Steffen.
Risk Intelligence recently published an assessment of Nigerian maritime security. It examined key factors shaping maritime security and gauged the potential for piracy and insurgency in Nigeria’s maritime domain for 2012.