Another Pipeline Attack: Niger-Delta Avengers blow up Nembe trunk line, disrupt crude oil supply

Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, yesterday blew up the Nembe 1, 2 and 3 trunk line jointly operated by Agip, Oando and Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, disrupting the supply of 300,000 barrels of crude per day to Bonny Export Terminal in Rivers State.

Spokesperson of the militant group, self-styled Brig-Gen. Mudoch Agbinibo, in an electronic mail, said: “At about 11.45pm November 15, 2016, our elite Strike Team 03 struck Nembe 1, 2 and 3 truck line operated by Agip, Oando and Shell with supply capacity of 300,000 barrel per day to Bonny export terminal.

This is in response to the so-called “Operation Sharkbite,” an act of terrorism commissioned by the tyranny of the Nigerian Navy establishment and orchestrated by some elements of the ruling political class to continuously undermine any effort by the Nigerian state to addressing the legitimate demands of the people of the Niger Delta and as well as a conspiracy to bloat the accounts of some security contractors and conflict merchants within the party structure of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

“We are only reiterating our strong resolve that time is running against the Nigerian government, that there is doom ahead. The Nigerian government needs our cooperation more than we need the government as it concerns the extraction of the crude oil and hydrocarbon resources in our God-given land. 

We are determined to continue this war by all means necessary, until the right environment evolves for a genuine dialogue and negotiations within the framework of the 16-point key demands presented to President Muhammadu Buhari by PANDEF on November 1, 2016.” Meanwhile, another attack was said to have hit a crude oil delivery line in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. 

Though the identity of the gunmen believed to have come from the Akassa axis of the creek could not be ascertained, they were said to have bombed a riser at Igbikiba in Diebu in Southern Ijaw local government area between 10 and 11pm.

The bombed facility, according to a community source, is owned by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC. “The badly damaged facility is at Igbikiba in Diebu axis of the Tebidaba-Brass pipeline in Southern Ijaw council. It is a river crossing riser,” the source said.

Confirming the attack, the State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) stated that facility attacked was located in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area. The Commandant, NSCDC, Mr. Desmond Agu, said he got a report that two explosions rocked the pipelines.