N/Delta Avengers blow up more Chevron oil wells

· Navy arrests attackers of NNPC’s pipelines

 

As the Federal Gov­ernment gets set to tighten the noose on militants, the Ni­ger Delta Avengers (NDA) has again blown up two oil wells belonging to Chevron Nigeria in Warri, Delta State. The mil­itants attacked the facilities in the early hours of yesterday.

The AUTHORITY gath­ered that the incident took place at 4am yesterday around Egbema creeks in Warri North Local Government Area of the state.

The destroyed Bibi Oil Well RMP 23 and RMP 24 are rated as Chevron’s highest producing oil wells in onshore Delta.

This is the second time the NDA will attack Chevron facil­ities since it began the destruc­tion of oil installations in the Niger Delta region.

In its tweet on Wednesday, the NDA claimed responsible for the attacks on the company’s in­stallations.

The group described the at­tack as a major feat designed to “prove the Federal Government wrong over last Saturday’s inva­sion of Gbaramatu communities.”

A few hours after the attack, the NDA tweeted: “With the heavy presence of 100 gunboats, four warships and jet bombers, NDA blew up Chevron oil well RMP 23 and RMP 24 3:44am.

“This is to show the whole world that the Nigerian military is good in harassing innocent ci­vilians. RMP 24 and RMP 23 are Chevron swamp highest produc­ing wells.”

When The AUTHORITY contacted Chevron’s Manager for Communications Policy, Gov­ernment and Public Affairs, Ni­geria-Mid Africa Strategic Busi­ness Unit, Mr. ‘Sola Adebawo, he merely said: “Thank you for your inquiry. However, we will not comment on security matters. The safety of our people remains our number one priority.”

The tweet on the group’s web­site came from the NDA spokes­person, Col. Mudoch Agbin­ibowe.

Before the latest attacks, the group had claimed responsibility for the last Thursday’s bombing of Chevron’s Escravos terminal. The group said it used explosives to damage the Escravos tank farm’s main electricity feed pipe­line, thereby shutting down Chev­ron’s onshore activities in the Ni­ger Delta.

It had warned Chevron not to repair the facilities earlier de­stroyed until the Federal Gov­ernment meets its demands. The Avengers were miffed that Chev­ron was reportedly preparing to repair the Okan Valve platform, they had earlier blown up.

The Escravos incident came after a series of attacks on oil and gas companies operating in the Niger Delta, including the May 7, this year’s bombing of Eni’s gas pipeline in Ogbembiri, Bayelsa State, which impacted approxi­mately 1,000 barrels of crude per day.

Another crude pipeline in Bayelsa, operated by Eni subsidi­ary, the Nigerian Agip Oil Com­pany (NAOC), was damaged with dynamites on May 22, this year as Agbinibowe declared that “the heavy presence of military in the creeks will not stop us from car­rying out our operations.”

 

The group further warned Chevron: “We are ready to de­stroy more pipelines. We won’t only destroy pipelines, but will bring the fight to your tank farm and your headquarters in Lekki, Lagos. If you continue to under­mine us and go ahead with the re­pair works, you won’t see us com­ing but we are coming for you.”

 

The attacks have brought down Nigeria’s crude oil produc­tion to about 1.1 million barrels per day.

Navy arrests suspected attack­ers of NNPC’s pipelines

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Navy has paraded five suspect­ed members of the NDA, alleged to have been responsible for last Saturday’s multiple attacks on pipelines belonging to the Nige­rian National Petroleum Corpo­ration (NNPC) in Warri South West Local Government area of Delta State.

 

The Navy said that five ves­sels, five barges and 72 Cotonou boats used for illegal oil bunkering were seized by its operatives.

The Flag Officer Command­ing (FOC), Central Naval Com­mand, Rear Admiral Mohammed Garba, who paraded the suspects on Wednesday at the Naval Base, Warri, warned that he would stop at nothing until the militants were flushed out of the region.

Garba noted that the com­mand had made progress in the crackdown on pipeline vandals, sea pirates and the NDA.

He said: “Although, the secu­rity situation has been tense in re­cent days due to a series of attacks on oil and gas facilities by mis­creants, the Central Naval Com­mand made a lot of progress re­lating to pipeline vandalism, sea robbery and attacks on ships.

“It’s pertinent to state that in this effort, the last seven days have witnessed the arrest of five sus­pects in connection with attacks on NNPC pipelines at Batan on Saturday.

“We have also arrested one for the killing of two soldiers on 10th May, 2016 at Batan, one for extortion, seven Cotonou boats, five other suspects and 490 metric tonnes of illegally refined AGO.”

Garba denied allegations that the military personnel were intimidating innocent people in the search for the fleeing mem­bers of the NDA.

In a statement on the update of the Navy’s activities in the Ni­ger Delta, its Director of Infor­mation, Commodore Ezekobe said three persons were arrest­ed by operatives in connection with a series of maritime crimes.

He gave the names of the suspects as Sani aka Dogonya­ro, Usman aka Smally and Ad­amu Mani.

“The suspects are still un­dergoing investigation and will be handed over to the prosecut­ing authorities for further ac­tion. The arrest of these suspects has proven helpful in the fight against the criminals.”

Ezekobe added that oper­atives of Forward Operation Base (FOB) Badagry in Lagos have arrested five citizens of Benin Republic in connection with economic crimes. The sus­pects are Mr. Philmen Agboku, Mr. Penu Daniel, Mr. Sule Soka, Mr. Dosu Victor and Mr. Sodo­pe Olivie. They were arrested on May 26, 2016 along Tongeji-Port Novo axis at about 0500hrs in a wooden Cotonou boat convey­ing about 900 cans. The cans contained products suspected to be stolen Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).