Niger Delta Avengers announces fresh attacks on Chevron, NNPC facilities
Mon Jul 04, 2016 09:21:am National
1.8K By sosa hills
The Niger Delta Avengers has announced fresh attacks on major oil and gas installations in Nigeria.
These attacks happened between Friday and Sunday, the militants struck thrice in Batan and Abiteye communities, Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State, where they destroyed facilities and oil wells belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Chevron Nigeria Limited and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Corporation (NPDC).
Reports says that the affected facilities have been shut down by the operating companies while the environment is under massive oil spillage.
Sources said that two critical oil wells-7 and 8 - located near Abiteye Flow Station and operated by Chevron, were bombed by the militants.
Local sources in Batan said five NNPC and NPDC pipelines were attacked by the militants.
The Chairman of Batan Community, Mr. Ogugu Don Dickson, confirmed the attacks when contacted by newsmen.
He said that some surveillance youths in the community who attempted to trace the source of the loud bang from the explosion were shot at by the attackers.
A top security officer also confirmed the bombing of the facilities.
The NDA also confirmed the attacks in a series of tweets it posted on its Twitter handle.
It read: "At 9:15pm on Friday, the @NDAvengers blew up Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) crude oil trunk line to Warri Refinery.
"At 11:26pm on Saturday @NDAvengers blew up two NPDC major crude trunk lines close to Batan Flow Station in Delta State.
"At 1:15am on Sunday @NDAvengers blew up two major Chevron oil wells. Well 7 and Well 8 close to Abiteye Flow Station in Delta State. All five operations were carried out by @Ndavengers strike team. Well done soldiers."
The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) however blamed the fresh attacks on Federal Government's inability to address the issues that gave birth to the renewed militancy in the region.
A statement issued by the group's spokesman, Eric Omare, described as unfortunate and worrisome that there is a resumption of fresh attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta region by the NDA.
Omare said: "The visit of the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to the creeks some weeks ago generated so much goodwill and commendation from the people of the region and the IYC had expected the Federal Government to take advantage of that goodwill to engage stakeholders on how to find short and long-term solutions to the problem."
"However, unfortunately, this was not done as the Federal Government has not taken any practical step towards resolving the issues since President Buhari returned from his medical trip abroad. We call for urgent response from government on solutions to the problem.
"IYC also calls on the Niger Delta Avengers to halt further attacks on facilities, considering the negative effects of the attacks on the Niger Delta environment and give room for constructive dialogue," he said.
These attacks happened between Friday and Sunday, the militants struck thrice in Batan and Abiteye communities, Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State, where they destroyed facilities and oil wells belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Chevron Nigeria Limited and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Corporation (NPDC).
Reports says that the affected facilities have been shut down by the operating companies while the environment is under massive oil spillage.
Sources said that two critical oil wells-7 and 8 - located near Abiteye Flow Station and operated by Chevron, were bombed by the militants.
Local sources in Batan said five NNPC and NPDC pipelines were attacked by the militants.
The Chairman of Batan Community, Mr. Ogugu Don Dickson, confirmed the attacks when contacted by newsmen.
He said that some surveillance youths in the community who attempted to trace the source of the loud bang from the explosion were shot at by the attackers.
A top security officer also confirmed the bombing of the facilities.
The NDA also confirmed the attacks in a series of tweets it posted on its Twitter handle.
It read: "At 9:15pm on Friday, the @NDAvengers blew up Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) crude oil trunk line to Warri Refinery.
"At 11:26pm on Saturday @NDAvengers blew up two NPDC major crude trunk lines close to Batan Flow Station in Delta State.
"At 1:15am on Sunday @NDAvengers blew up two major Chevron oil wells. Well 7 and Well 8 close to Abiteye Flow Station in Delta State. All five operations were carried out by @Ndavengers strike team. Well done soldiers."
The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) however blamed the fresh attacks on Federal Government's inability to address the issues that gave birth to the renewed militancy in the region.
A statement issued by the group's spokesman, Eric Omare, described as unfortunate and worrisome that there is a resumption of fresh attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta region by the NDA.
Omare said: "The visit of the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to the creeks some weeks ago generated so much goodwill and commendation from the people of the region and the IYC had expected the Federal Government to take advantage of that goodwill to engage stakeholders on how to find short and long-term solutions to the problem."
"However, unfortunately, this was not done as the Federal Government has not taken any practical step towards resolving the issues since President Buhari returned from his medical trip abroad. We call for urgent response from government on solutions to the problem.
"IYC also calls on the Niger Delta Avengers to halt further attacks on facilities, considering the negative effects of the attacks on the Niger Delta environment and give room for constructive dialogue," he said.
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