Nigerian security forces clashed with militants on Tuesday close to an oil flow station in the western Niger Delta operated by U.S. energy giant Chevron, an army spokesman said.
“Our troops at Chevron’s Abiteye flow station in Delta state captured two speed boats belonging to the militants,” Colonel Rabe Abubakar said. “The militants on board the speed boats fled and abandoned them after a fierce exchange of fire,” he said.
Africa’s top oil and gas exporter is on alert for retaliatory attacks after the military launched its biggest offensive for several years last week, bombarding a major militant camp with helicopters and gunboats.
Local rights groups say the military’s use of helicopter gunships has triggered a “mass evacuation” of villagers and have urged restraint by the security forces. They have asked both sides to allow humanitarian access to those displaced.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has said it will blockade key waterways in the region to try to prevent crude oil exports.
The group said over the weekend it had blown up two oil and gas pipelines in Delta state but there has been no independent confirmation.
Insecurity in the Niger Delta means the OPEC member’s oil output is running at less than two-thirds of its 3 million barrels per day (bpd) capacity, curbing foreign revenues and putting an additional strain on government finances.
Minister of State for Petroleum Odein Ajumogobia told Reuters late on Monday that production was running at around 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd), excluding condensate, before the latest fighting.