Gunmen invade oil station in Nigerian delta

The attack on the facility operated by Italy’s Agip in the creeks of Bayelsa state comes as another flow station run by the same firm elsewhere in the state is under occupation by protesters demanding compensation for oil spills.

A spokesman for Bayelsa state government confirmed Saturday’s attack on the Clough Creek flow station but had no further details.

“We understand that some youths have taken over the flow station last night. Government is working on it,” said the spokesman, Ekiyor Conrad Welson.

The oil industry source said the attackers had taken hostages but did not know how many.

“They took everybody there hostage including the soldiers. The soldiers’ houseboat was seized by the youths,” said the source.

It is the second time in two weeks that the Clough Creek facility has been invaded. The trouble stems from a long-running dispute between the company and some local villagers.

Agip’s parent company, Eni , said at the time of the first attack that there was practically no impact on production. Agip spokesmen could not immediately be reached on Sunday.

Agip has been forced to shut down 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude output from its Tebidaba flow station, also in Bayelsa, after that was invaded on Nov. 6 by militants and villagers in a dispute over oil spills.

Tebidaba remains under siege, with close to 40 oil workers being held hostage there.

Invasions of oil facilities by youths angry over pollution, lack of jobs or investment in their communities are common in the lawless Niger Delta, which accounts for all of Nigeria’s 2.4 million bpd of crude output.

Such attacks are just one facet of violence in the delta, where poverty fuels resentment against the oil industry. Sabotage of pipelines and flow stations, abductions of expatriate oil workers, theft of barges full of crude oil and turf wars between local militias are also commonplace.

Nigeria, the world’s eighth-biggest exporter of oil, has lost 500,000 bpd in crude production since February after a string of attacks that month by militants demanding greater local control over oil wealth.