Militants Threaten Oil Tankers
Published in Oil Industry News on Tuesday, 14 June 2016
The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) militant group has threatened to sink oil tankers and “review” its stance of not taking lives in its latest warning to oil and gas companies operating in the Niger Delta.
The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) militant group has threatened to sink oil tankers and “review” its stance of not taking lives in its latest warning to oil and gas companies operating in the Niger Delta.
In a press statement released on the group’s official website, the NDA also restated its intention to attack the interests of oil corporations if they repaired any facilities damaged by the group.
“They should not undertake any repair of pipeline, oil and gas facilities that is damaged or attacked by our forces,” said General Mudoch Agbinibo in an NDA statement. The group also said it intends to review its policy of sparing human lives if the government does not accept its conditions.
“If they refuse to heed our advice it will result in the sinking of their mother vessels as an examples to others,” the Group said.
“The NDA High Command is restating our commitment to attack the interest of oil corporations and international refinery operators that bring in vessels to the Niger Delta territory to buy our oil”, the statement continued.”
The NDA has carried out several attacks on oil and gas firms in the region since the start of the year, blowing up Chevron’s Escravos terminal and the company’s RMP 24 and RMP 23 wells in the process.
The Escravos attack followed NDA’s warning to Chevron that no repair works should be carried out to facilities previously targeted by the group, until NDA’s demands are fully met. NDA claimed on its official website May 11 that it suspected Chevron was preparing to carry out repair works at the Okan Valve platform, which was blown up by the group at the start of the month.
Other recent NDA attacks in the region include:
•May 13 – An explosion occurred at a Chevron oil well at the Marakaba pipeline in Warri.
•May 17 - A gas pipeline in Ogbembiri, Bayelsa state, belonging to Italy’s Eni, was blown up. The attack impacted approximately 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, according to an Eni spokesperson.
•May 22 – A crude oil pipeline in Bayelsa, operated by Eni subsidiary Nigerian Agip Oil Company, was damaged with dynamite.
As part of its demands, NDA wants to “free the people of the Niger Delta from environmental pollution, slavery and oppression,” according to a statement on the group’s website.
Last week the NDA rejected an offer from the government to hold talks.