Nigerian Rebels Attack Shell, Chevron Oil Facilities

By Dulue Mbachu and Karl Maier

Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Nigerian militants attacked a pipeline operated by a unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc and clashed with soldiers near a Chevron Corp. oil field as raids against the oil industry in the Niger River delta entered a fourth day.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, used explosives to destroy the pipeline at Bakana in Rivers state at 10:10 p.m. local time yesterday, spokesman Jomo Gbomo said in an e-mailed statement. Shell spokesman Rainer Winzenried today confirmed the attack, saying the link is part of the Bonny Light crude system. He didn't provide details of the damage.

MEND said it was also involved in a ``minor skirmish'' with soldiers near Chevron's Idama oil field. Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, a spokesman for the region's joint military task force, said gunmen traveling in six speed boats attacked the field. Chevron spokesman Scott Walker said a shooting incident near the field at 1 a.m. today had no impact on production which was already shut-in for pipeline repairs.


The latest attacks began on Sept. 13 when Nigerian soldiers and militants clashed in the Elem-Tombia district, south of Port Harcourt. The militants said troops had launched an air and marine offensive against its positions and declared an ``oil war'' targeting installations in the region, which produces almost all of Nigeria's oil.

Musa also said a British citizen was kidnapped overnight by unidentified gunmen near Port Harcourt.

``We're aware of reports of the kidnapping and we're investigating,'' James McLaughlin, a spokesman for the British High Commission to Nigeria, said in a telephone interview.

Chevron Attack

Nigerian soldiers beat back an attack on Chevron's oil field and sank two of the gunmen's boats, Musa said. ``One soldier was wounded during the raid and is in a stable condition,'' he said. MEND said five of its scouts were involved in a ``minor skirmish'' with soldiers while patrolling near the Idmam flow station.

The Idama field, which exports crude via a Shell pipeline, was already closed for repairs to the pipe and the company's Nigerian production is unaffected by the incident, Chevron's Walker said in an e-mailed statement today. There is no indication that Chevron is being targeted by the militants, he said.

MEND said yesterday its fighters destroyed a Shell flow station and a major pipeline feeding the Bonny export terminal.

Nigeria has Africa's biggest hydrocarbon reserves, with more than 30 billion barrels of crude and 187 trillion cubic feet of gas. The West African country, which has dropped behind Angola as the continent's top oil exporter because of the violence, is the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports.

MEND says it's fighting on behalf of the inhabitants of the Niger Delta, who have yet to share in the oil wealth of the region. Attacks by armed groups in the region have cut more than 20 percent of Nigeria's oil exports since 2006.

To contact the reporters on this story: Dulue Mbachu via the Johannesburg bureau at abolleurs@bloomberg.net; Karl Maier in Rome at kmaier2@bloomberg.net