Nigerian rebels have threatened an "all out war" in the oil-producing regions of the country. The rebels point to the environmental degradation and exploitation of petroleum resources as the basis of their struggle.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Wed Mar 3, 2010 2:48pm GMT
By Joe Brock
ABUJA (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday an oil flowstation in Nigeria's restive Niger Delta had been damaged by an explosion, in what appeared to have been an attack by a militant splinter group.
The damage to the Kokori flowstation had no impact on Shell's oil production but is potentially politically damaging for Nigeria because it would mark the first militant strike in more than six months following an amnesty last year.
"We confirmed explosive damage to a part of Kokori flowstation, but the facility was unmanned and has not been producing," a Shell spokesman said in an e-mail to Reuters.
A militant group based in the Niger Delta, which identified itself as People's Patriotic Revolutionary Force of the Joint Revolutionary Council, Western Division, said it was responsible for the attack, according to Nigerian press reports.
The Joint Revolutionary Council did not immediately respond to an email asking for comment.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Nigeria's main militant group behind years of attacks on the oil industry, said Wednesday it was not involved.
"We know those behind the attack but they do not have the backing of MEND," it said in an email to Reuters.
Attacks on Africa's biggest energy industry in recent years, many of them by MEND, have stopped Nigeria producing more than two-thirds of its potential 3 million barrel per day capacity, costing it an estimated $1 billion (663 million pounds) a month in lost revenues.
The explosion is the first significant attack on an oil or gas facility in the Niger Delta for more than six months, after a presidential amnesty last year saw thousands of gunmen lay down weapons.
But promises of stipends and training have been slow coming and the absence of President Umaru Yar'Adua, who returned from three months in a Saudi hospital last week but remains too sick to govern, has increased uncertainty.
Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, who is from the Niger Delta, has pledged to push ahead with getting the amnesty program back on track and Monday set up a committee to monitor progress in the volatile region.
(Editing by Nick Tattersall)
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