China to move into the Nigerian Delta

According to the Wall Street Journal, China might be looking to Africa to help feed its enormous energy appetite. The article, by Benoit Faucon, reports that China’s Cnooc Ltd. may buy two Nigerian offshore oil claims from Royal Dutch Shell for about $900 million.

If the deal goes down, it will be interesting to watch China operate Nigeria.

Blood Oil, a great article by Sebastian Junger tells of his meeting with the Nigerian militants that have wreaked havoc on Nigerian oil production by killing workers, taking hostages, bombing refineries, and attacking offshore platforms. The group, known as Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), is made up of about 20 armed men whose attacks have been able to halt oil production and cause large spikes in the global price of oil.

Now China is going to walk right into their crosshairs.

So what happens if this group hops on a few speedboats and attacks the Chinese rigs?

The European’s have bargained with and paid ransoms to MEND in the past – something tells me that the People’s Republic might not be as flexible.

China’s human rights record is a bit spotty, and Communist nations have a little more leeway when dealing with foreign combatants – there’s an old story about how after an Afghani terrorist attack against the Soviets, the militant leader had his son sent to him in 10 different packages…

Could a MEND attack on Chinese nationals force the Chinese military to be a little less isolationist, or will the new cuddly Chinese government pay off the militants as others have before?

Whatever the response, the world will be watching. As China continues to open up and expand its political and economic reach, this move into Nigeria could be strong indicator of what the next century has in store.