Last month, guerrillas and “terrorists” in Nigeria threatened to shut down 30% of Nigeria’s oil exports.
They managed 20%… about 450,000 barrels per day of oil from Nigeria’s usual output.
This month, they have apparently, raised the bar a little higher.
They promise to remove a further 1 million barrels of oil in March.
If they are as successful as they were last month that likely means a drop in exports of about another 750,000 barrels… bringing the total disruption to about 1.2 million barrels/day.
That’s roughly half of Nigerias total oil production capabilities.
What’s more, it looks like the oil that has already stopped flowing, won’t be coming back anytime soon as the “terrorists” continue to hold hostages of the various companies (local or international).
Add to that the news that there has been a major oil spill in Alaska.
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation estimated that a minimum of 201,000 gallons (4,785 barrels) spilled at Prudhoe Bay, the largest U.S. oil field.
Officials expect the cleanup to take four to six weeks.
The shutdown caused BP to lose about 100,000 barrels of daily production, although the company has been able to divert production of about 5,000 of those barrels through a different pipeline, BP spokesman Daren Beaudo said.
The Prudhoe Bay field normally produces about 470,000 barrels a day, a little more than half of all North Slope oil output.
You can expect a serious jump in your fuel prices… if they haven’t already.