The Niger Delta Avengers have claimed responsibility for yet another attack on Chevron’s oil wells in Warri in the north local government area of Delta state.
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The militant group said on Twitter that it blew up the energy company’s RMP 23 and RMP 24 crude oil wells in the Niger Delta at 3:44 AM.
The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), which has carried out a series of crippling attacks on oil pipelines and facilities in the region, issued a statement on Monday warning companies based in the region-including Dutch giants Shell and USA firm Chevron-that “it’s going to be bloody this time around”.
In a separate attack, members of the Indigenous People of Biafra group said police on Monday killed at least 15 people in an attack on a peaceful rally in Onitsha city to commemorate heroes of the 1967-1970 civil war to create a separate state of Biafra in southeast Nigeria.
Also read: Niger Delta Avengers blow up Chevron facilities again!
Chevron’s Valve Platform was also bombed by the group who remain bent on removing foreign-owned oil wells from the area, and achieving a separate, sovereign state from Nigeria.
The Avengers had rejected a meeting recently convened in Abuja by the federal government, warning of its readiness to carry out an attack that will “shock the whole world”.
The government is winding down the amnesty program, but the NDA says it wants the program to continue.
But after the economy took a nosedive following the crash in global oil prices, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has struggled to pay for the amnesty programme.
The attacks have reduced Nigeria’s total oil output to below that of rival producer Angola, sharply affecting the national budget which relies on oil tax revenue.
“It has resulted to a leak spilling oil into the place”.
He said, “On the Niger Delta, we are committed to implementing the United Nations Environment Programme report and are advancing clean-up operations. We shall apprehend the perpetrators and their sponsors and bring them to justice”, Buhari said.
The attack followed NDA’s warning to Chevron that no fix works should be carried out to facilities previously targeted by the group, until NDA’s demands are fully met. NDA claimed on its official website May 11 that it suspected Chevron was preparing to carry out fix works at the Okan Valve platform, which was blown up by the group at the start of the month.
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Since militants resumed attacks on Nigeria’s oil pipelines months back, the country has witnessed drop in exports, the lowest level in more than two decades, leading to huge losses in terms of foreign earnings.
