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Nigerian rebels attack Chevron pumping station
Admin - Jun 11, 09
http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/rebels-attack-chevron-owned-nigerian-pumping-station
June 11, 2009 LAGOS (China Post) - The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the main rebel group in southern Nigeria, said Wednesday it had set a pumping station of US oil giant
Chevron on fire.Chevron's Otunana station in Niger Delta "is currently engulfed in fire after being overwhelmed by our fighters," MEND said in a statement.
A spokesman for Chevron, Scott Walker, could not immediately confirm the claim but said the report was being investigated.
The group had warned of new attacks last weekend.
MEND has staged several attacks on international oil facilities in southern Nigeria as part of its campaign to get what it calls a fairer distribution of the region's oil wealth to local people.
Nigeria's oil production has been cut by more than a quarter because of the militant campaign over the past three years.
Unrest in the Niger Delta region has reduced Nigeria's daily output to 1.76 million barrels compared with 2.6 million barrels in January 2006.
Nigeria, which was once Africa's biggest oil producer, was overtaken some months back by Angola. Since then the two countries have vied for the position of top producer.
"As forewarned, a major 'Cordon and Search' operation by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) commenced today... (Tuesday) with devastating effects on the heavily fortified Chevron Otunana flow station in Delta state," Wednesday's rebel statement said.
The station, it added, "is currently engulfed in fire after being overwhelmed by our fighters."
"Code named 'Hurricane Piper Alpha', the objective is to smoke out war criminals of the Northern Nigerian armed forces who have taken refuge in oil installations and give them instant jungle justice," it added.
The past three years have also seen an upsurge in kidnappings of local and foreign oil workers in the volatile region.
