The Joint Task Force (JTF), a military outfit in the Niger Delta, said yesterday it killed three militants during an operation to repel attack on the Utorogun Gas Plant in Delta State, which is operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
Two staff of the SPDC were however injured by the militants and have been hospitalised in Warri, Delta State, according to JTF spokesman, Colonel Rabe Abubakar.
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has claimed responsibility for the initial attack which led to the JTF’s counter attack at about 4 am. MEND also warned of more attacks.
The latest attack followed last week’s decision by MEND to call off its five-month long ceasefire. It said the poor in the Niger Delta are yet to benefit from the region’s huge oil resources despite promises by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
The SPDC’s Head of Public Affairs, Mr. Precious Okolobo, also confirmed the attack on the facility run by Europe’s second-largest oil company but did not disclose if the attack affected the company’s production.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest producer of crude oil, has suffered production cuts and huge revenue loss since the start of armed resistance in the region about four years ago. The country produced an average 2.13 million barrels per day in 2007 and was listed as 13th biggest oil producer in the world.
Escalation of attacks on oil facilities has led to closure of about a-fifth of the region’s crude oil production over the past three years, pushing production down to around 1.8 million barrels per day.
SPDC announced last year that it had implemented a force majeure on its oil shipments due to rise in attacks on its terminals.
The force majeure (declaration of uncontrollable events) means that the company will not be responsible for failure to fulfill contractual obligations to its clients from its Niger Delta facilities.
Reacting to the situation, Delta State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Oma Djebah, played down the seriousness of the attack.
“ The peace and security programme of the administration of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan is fully on track such that the prevailing peace and sustainable atmosphere of security is as a result of the innovative and practical peace-building strategy put in place by the administration, ” he said.
“So, what happened today (yesterday) is just an isolated case, which does not in any way affect the prevailing peace and security in the state. The incident was effectively dealt with and we believe that like every human society, there are one or two isolated cases of criminality.”
Feb82009