The Niger Delta Avengers has announced fresh attacks on major oil and gas installations in Nigeria.
The militant group said it carried out attacks on facilities operated by Chevron and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC.
It said it bombed an NNPC pipeline conveying crude to Warri refinery in Delta State on Friday night.
Between Saturday night and early Sunday morning, the group announced four more attacks against oil facilities. All the reported attacks happened in Delta State.
“At 11:26 p.m. on Saturday, @NDAvengers blow up (sic) two NPDC major crude trunk lines close to Batan Flow Station in Delta State.
“At 1:15 a.m. on Sunday, @NDAvengers blow (sic) up two major Chevron oil wells. Well 7 and Well 8 close to Abiteye Flow Station in Delta State,” the group said in tweets posted on its Twitter handle.
The group also said all the attacks were carried out by one “strike team.”
The NNPC, which owns the NPDC, has however said it is not aware of the attacks.
Garbadeen Mohammed, the spokesman for NNPC, said the state-run oil corporation was not aware of any damage to its facilities in the region.
Also, a front desk officer at Chevron Nigeria Limited could not speak on the attacks. She told PREMIUM TIMES that the company’s media department only works on weekdays.
It is not clear the reason for the new attacks after two weeks of what appeared cessation of hostilities by the militants. There have, however, been reports of breakdown of negotiation between the group and the Nigerian government.
The latest attacks, if confirmed, also underscore the capabilities of the group whose activities had cut deeply into Nigeria’s oil exports, affecting the operations of oil companies in the Niger Delta.
In June, Shell Nigeria announced that it would keep its Forcados Export Terminal shut until security of its staff stationed around there could be guaranteed.
In an attempt to pacify the militants, the Nigerian government in June ordered troops to cease further assault.
(Source: PREMIUM TIMES)