Nigeria spends millions on pipeline repair

ABUJA, Nigeria, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Militant attacks and sabotage of oil pipelines in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria cost the government roughly $73 million in 2009, officials said Friday.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the main militant group in the region, broke a 2009 cease-fire on the oil industry earlier this year. The group launched a guerrilla campaign against the oil sector, claiming it was cut out of lucrative oil revenue.

Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, a managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., said at a national energy conference in Abuja that militant attacks had a major impact on the energy sector, Nigeria's Guardian newspaper reports.

Militant activity in 2009, he said, removed more than 1.3 million barrels of oil per day from the market.

He condemned underperformance of the beleaguered refineries in the country, which is struggling with domestic energy shortages.

He said his country is "far below" its benchmark capacity for crude oil production.

Apart from militant activity, Nigeria is beset by political turmoil following the Wednesday return to Abuja of ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua following a three-month absence for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.