/ 8 July 2009

Nigerian rebels claim further attacks on oil pipelines

Nigeria's most prominent militant group said on Wednesday it sabotaged oil pipelines operated by Shell and Agip.

Nigeria’s most prominent militant group said on Wednesday it sabotaged oil pipelines operated by Shell and Agip, widening up a six-week long offensive against Africa’s biggest energy industry.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said gunmen attacked the pipelines in two separate attacks near Nembe creek in Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta.

Attacks against the Opec member’s oil sector have become a near daily occurrence since President Umaru Yar’Adua announced an amnesty offer two weeks ago.

”The plague of sabotage descended heavily on major Shell and Agip crude trunk lines in Bayelsa state,” Mend said in a statement. The pipelines connect to Agip’s Brass and Royal Dutch Shell’s Bonny crude oil export terminals.

A Shell spokesperson said the company was investigating the report.

Shell, Agip and US oil firm Chevron have cut output by about 273 000 barrels per day in the last six weeks because of the latest militant violence.

The disruption to supplies has provided some limited support for global oil prices.

Mend has sabotaged pipelines, bombed oil facilities and kidnapped foreign workers following the military’s biggest offensive in the region for years in late May.

Militants were still holding six foreign crew members hostage, two days after their chemical tanker was hijacked off the coast of Escravos in the Niger Delta.

Hoping to put an end to the unrest, Yar’Adua said last week he would offer a 60-day amnesty to militants and criminals in the Niger Delta beginning August 6.

But Mend, a loose network of varied factions, has publicly dismissed the amnesty offer.

One of the group’s key demands is the immediate release of its leader, Henry Okah, who is on trial for gun-running and treason and could face the death penalty.

Yar’Adua ordered his interior minister last week to extend his clemency offer to Okah, but he has so far failed publicly to do so. — Reuters