Cheap oil means bad business for pirates
Gulf of Guinea sees decline of maritime attacks as oil prices remain low.
According to the Huffington Post,
low oil prices tip the risk/benefit scales in a way that simply make it
not worthwhile for some pirates to attempt to seize tankers. In the
Gulf of Guinea, a major shipping lane for oil tankers, attack from
pirates dropped from 69 in 2014 to 49 in 2015. Nigeria, the heart of
Africa's oil production, lost as much as 500,000 barrels a day when
prices were over $100 per barrel, or about a quarter of its outgoing supply, according to West African maritime industry analyst Bolaji Akinola.
Of course, there are other reasons for the decline in piracy, including increased communication, collaboration and coordination
of anti-piracy efforts by multiple navies. In addition, West African
pirates have adapted their criminal enterprises in the face of cheap
oil, focusing more on kidnapping and ransom than stealing petroleum,
"the kind of piracy that we saw in the Somalia area, in the Gulf of
Aden," says Akinola.
Stealing oil just isn't the lucrative business it once was.
Still, until conditions improve for people living in the region, crime
will continue. "In the long-run, there is a need to provide employment
for youth, especially in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria," Akinola tells
NPR. "I hope you are aware of the fact that piracy in the
larger Gulf of Guinea area has been blamed on Nigerian pirates. So until
you are able to meaningfully engage this category of people, they will
continue to constitute danger to shipping."
(AutoBlog.com)
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