By Nick Tattersall
ABUJA (Reuters) - Oil firms operating off Nigeria needtougher security measures like floating blast-proof barriers toprevent the sort of attack that crippled Royal Dutch Shell'smain offshore facility, security experts say.
Militants in speedboats attacked Shell's Bonga field 120 km(75 miles) from the coast on Thursday, forcing the firm to stopproduction and shocking an industry that thought such deepwatersites were relatively immune from sabotage.
The attack showed that existing security measures atoffshore facilities -- including anti-climb paint, blast wallsmeant to withstand an industrial explosion and 24 hour patrolsby naval personnel -- were not sufficient, experts said.
New technology including long range acoustic warningdevices (LRAD), originally intended for U.S. warships,blast-proof floating steel walls and rapid patrol boats withmounted machine-guns would be needed to protect against suchattacks, they said.
"The truth is that oil companies are not really built forwarfare. They're not really prepared for this kind ofincident," a private security contractor in the oil industrytold Reuters.
Security sources described the Bonga attack asastonishingly bold. The militants used small boats to travel bynight, through notoriously strong currents, a distance morethan three times the width of the Strait of Dover separatingEngland and France.
The distance alone of deepwater sites like Bonga from theNigerian coast meant that oil companies had assumed they wouldnot be subjected to the level of attacks that have cut outputin the shallow creeks of the Niger Delta in recent years.
"At the moment, the main operators who are really putting alot of time, money and effort into security are thoserelatively close to the shore, up to around 10 km," said asecurity expert working in the oil industry.
EMERGENCY MEETING
The attack on Bonga raised the prospect of a new campaignof violence in the deep waters of the Gulf of Guinea bymilitants who, until now, have largely limited their actions toblowing up pipelines and kidnapping oil workers onshore.
Nigeria's House of Representatives has called an emergencymeeting for Monday with the defence and oil ministers, nationalsecurity adviser and foreign oil firms to discuss the attack.
"It is an indication that these kind of attacks are goingto become a trend," said Rolake Akinola, senior West Africaanalyst with independent risk consultancy Control Risks.
"It is about the militants being able to adapt themselvesto the changing strategies of the oil companies," she toldReuters.
The group that claimed responsibility -- the Movement forthe Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) -- said it hadtargeted Bonga to show that attacks on deepwater explorationsites were not beyond its reach.
It warned oil and gas tankers to avoid Nigerian waters.
Security experts said steel booms -- floating barriers usedto control access to offshore sites -- could be reinforced toprevent attackers blowing through them but that such measuresneeded to be just one part of a much bigger strategy.
Militant tactics in previous attacks -- such as pouringfuel into the air-conditioning system of a vessel andthreatening to blow it up unless oil workers came out -- showedthe only sure defence was preventing the militants reaching thefacilities.
That meant fast patrol boats with mounted machine guns,LRAD technology to fire warning beams of high-frequency soundat militant vessels, advanced radars and potentially helicoptergunships as back-up, the oil industry security contractor said.
"Where possible, you really want to avoid getting into afirefight on or near an oil platform," he said.
(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say onthe top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ )
(Editing by Charles Dick)
