Chevron’s onshore activities in the Niger Delta have been shut down by a militant attack at its Escravos terminal, a company source said on Thursday.
The Niger Delta Avengers, which has told oil firms to leave the delta before the end of May, said late on Wednesday that it had blown up the facility’s mains electricity feed.
We Warned #Chevron but they didn’t Listen. @NDAvengers just blow up the Escravos tank farm Main Electricity Feed PipeLine.
— Niger Delta Avengers (@NDAvengers) May 25, 2016
“It is a crude line which means all activities in Chevron are grounded,” the source told Reuters, without elaborating.
A Chevron spokeswoman in the United States said on Thursday that it was against policy to comment on the safety and security of personnel and operations.
The Management of Chevron Nigeria Limited also declined comments.
Sola Adebawo, manager, communications and government relation said the oil firm would not immediately comment.
“We are not able to comment at this time,” Mr. Adebawo said in a text message on Thursday.
Residents in the area said that an explosion occurred on Wednesday night.
Eric Omare, Spokesman for Ijaw Youths Council confirmed the incident but did not provide details.
The Avengers and other militants, who say they are fighting for a greater share of oil profits, an end to pollution and independence for the region, have intensified attacks in recent months, pushing oil output to its lowest in more than 20 years and compounding the problems faced by Africa’s largest economy.
Spokesperson of the group, Mudoch Agbinibo, had earlier this month warned the Nigerian government of further attacks if their demands were not met.
Last week, Chevron’s Makaraba crude oil line was attacked on the offshore Okan manifold in the region.
The attack followed previous ones on the company’s facilities at Abiteye, Utunana and Makaraba platforms in Warri South-West area of Delta State resulting in the loss of over 40,000 barrels of oil per day.
Abuja has responded by moving in army reinforcements but British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond said this month that President Muhammadu Buhari needed to deal with the root causes.
Niger Delta residents, some of whom sympathise with the militants, have long complained of poverty in an area producing oil accounting for 70 percent of national income.
Buhari has extended an amnesty deal signed with militants in 2009 that stepped up funding for the region. But he has cut funding for the amnesty programme and cancelled contracts with former militants to protect the pipelines they used to attack.
Increased violence over the past few weeks has made international buyers more reluctant to buy Nigerian crude due to fears of loading delays and cancellations.
