* Splinter militant groups a hurdle to ceasefire talks
* Non-violent local protests have also exacted a toll
* 'People giving up in short term' - oil industry source (Adds Niger Delta Avengers says ready for dialogue)
By Libby George and Ulf Laessing
LONDON/LAGOS, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Oil companies and evenNigerian officials are losing faith in a deal anytime soon withmilitants who have slashed the nation's oil output, castingdoubt on a production recovery in what is typically Africa'slargest oil exporter.
In the six months since the first major attack on Nigeria'soil - a sophisticated bombing of the subsea Forcados pipeline -dozens of attacks have pushed outages to more than 700,000barrels per day (bpd), the highest in seven years.
Talk in the country has shifted from ceasefire optimism, andoil companies' assurances that repairs were underway, to hedgedcomments from the government and radio silence from oil majors.
On Sunday, the Niger Delta Avengers militants, which haveclaimed several major pipeline attacks, said in a statement theywere ready to give dialogue a chance.
But highlighting the fracturing of militants into smallgroups, the previous day a group called Niger Delta GreenJustice Mandate claimed an attack on a gas pipeline in thesouthern swamps lands.
Without a unified command and groups dominated by "generals"unable to fully control their own fighters, it is difficult forthe government to identify the right people to talk to orenforce any ceasefire.
"People are giving up in the short term," one oil industrysource told Reuters of a resumption in exports of key Nigeriangrades such as Forcados or Qua Iboe, adding you "can't getanything" out of the majors, including Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil or ENI, about when the oilmight come back.
Shell declined to comment, while the other companies did notimmediately responded to a request for comment.
In June, Nigerian government officials said privately it hada ceasefire with militants. But pessimism crept in, with evenOil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu telling journalists this week"we are talking but (it) is not an easy thing," and "we need aceasefire" - a contrast to the belief that a ceasefire wasunderway.
He has also said another challenge to brokering a ceasefireis that there were several militant groups to talk to.
DEEP-SEATED ISSUES
The problems reflect deep-seated issues in the Niger Delta,which produces the bulk of oil but whose local communitiescomplain of pollution, a lack of opportunities and what they sayis an insufficient share of petro dollars. These problems arecompounded by an economic crisis and a government battle withBoko Haram militants in the north.
"This is likely the beginning," Elizabeth Donnelly, deputyhead and research fellow of London think-tank Chatham House'sAfrica Programme said of the unrest, adding that "the resolutionthat will come will not come quickly."
The government this month resumed cash payments to militantgroups that it stopped in February, just before the launch ofthe worst violence since the payments began under a 2009amnesty. But attacks continued anyway.
The Delta Avengers claimed the bulk of them, announcingstrikes on Twitter even before oil majors themselves knew theirremote pipelines had been hit. Twitter shut the group's account,but sources said the Avengers have extensive knowledge of oilsites, and follow the media closely to track companies'actions.
"With the Avengers, you don't want to say 'we'll be back upnext Wednesday', because then you'll get a bomb next Tuesday,"one oil executive said. "They have to be careful."
But new groups, such as the self-styled Revolution Alliance,which claimed an attack on a Shell-owned oil line, loom, whilenon-violent local protests have also exacted a toll.
Collings Edema, a local youth leader of the Itsekiri groupthat has blocked access to Chevron's Escravos tank farm foralmost two weeks, said "the oil companies have not shown anysign that they are ready to improve our lives".
Experts warned that as long as people are unhappy, militantsand their targets could evolve in unpredictable ways.
"This is also about frustrations of younger people coming upin the Niger Delta and needs not having been addressed,"Donnelly said. "This isn't just about militancy, though thepolitical and economic context feeds it."
Adding to the division of the militant scene, the Movementfor the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), another groupwhich agreed to a ceasefire in 2009, denounced the Avengers dueto its "criminal and treasonable activities".
"MEND reiterates its full support for the ongoing militarypresence in the Niger Delta," it said in a statement, referringto a recent military campaign to hunt down the Avengers. (Additional reporting by Anamesere Igboeroteonwu in Onitsha,editing by David Evans)
