Militant Nigerian group claims attack on Shell pipeline (Roundup)

May 26, 2008, 12:04 GMT

Nairobi/Abuja - A militant group claimed Monday it had sabotaged a Shell pipeline in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta and killed 11 soldiers in the ensuing gun battle, although the army denied the latter claim.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said that in the early hours of the morning it sabotaged a major trunk pipeline at the Awoba flow station in Rivers State, killed the soldiers and then sunk their boat.

While a spokesman for the army confirmed that an explosion had occurred at the flow station, he said that no soldiers had been killed.

'It is not only a lie, but it is dubious bunkum,' regional spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa told the BBC. 'The flow station is not guarded by any armed men. How and where did they get the soldiers they claim to have killed?'

Nigeria is the eighth largest oil exporter in the world and the biggest in Africa.

However, regular attacks on facilities and kidnappings of oil workers have cut production by around a fifth since the rebels began pushing for more local control over oil in 2006.

Shell accounts for half of Nigeria's output of roughly 2 million barrels per day, but it has lost over 150,000 barrels per day in the first quarter of 2008 due to attacks.

President Umaru Yar'Adua and Vice President Jonathan Goodluck, who took office in May 2007, have promised to negotiate with the militants and address their grievances.

However, the militants said that the leaders had failed to keep their word.

'Today's attack is dedicated to the administration of Umaru Yar'Adua and Goodluck Jonathan who have failed after one year in office to ensure peace, security and reconciliation in the Niger Delta region,' MEND said in an e-mailed statement.

Worries over the security of Nigeria's oil supply have helped drive up global oil prices, which briefly broke the 135-dollar-per- barrel mark on May 22 before falling away again.

News of the attack helped push prices back up to over 133 dollars.