BDFM Online
Thursday, November 16, 2006
CAPE TOWN - Royal Dutch Shell said yesterday that Africa would play an important role in ensuring that the world had enough energy to meet its needs.
The resource-rich continent has become a key battleground for oil giants scrambling to meet strong global demand for oil, gas and other types of energy.
Royal Dutch Shell is among the oil companies with significant operations in Nigeria, Libya and other parts of Africa.
"Africa has a clear role to play in energy security for future generations," Koos Beurskens, GM for gas and power at the company's local unit, said at the Africa Upstream 2006 oil conference in Cape Town.
He said, however, that civil unrest and problems ensuring security in some African countries posed a challenge to companies operating on the continent.
Royal Dutch Shell, which reported unexpectedly robust third-quarter earnings last month in step with high oil prices, has been affected by unrest in Nigeria, the largest oil producer in Africa.
Earlier this year, the company shut down oil fields pumping 500000 barrels a day in the Niger Delta, a heartland for the west African nation's oil sector, after a wave of militant attacks.
Those attacks were staged by a group called the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which is campaigning for spill compensation, more regional control over the delta's oil wealth and freedom for two jailed leaders from the region.
Last month, protesters in Nigeria's Rivers State invaded facilities operated by western oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell, hitting output in the world's eighth-largest oil exporter by 62000 barrels a day. Reuters