Chevron pipeline in Nigeria attacked by gunmen

January 9, 2010

A Nigerian government official has said that gunmen attacked an oil pipeline operated by a Nigerian subsidiary of Chevron in the country's restive Niger Delta yesterday. The incident took place about a hundred kilometres (60 miles) southwest of the city of Warri. The incident comes five days after an attack killed four Chevron employees.

The attacks caused Chevron to stop the production of 20,000 barrels of crude oil in the area. Other attacks in the region have caused oil producers to pump little over two thirds of the total three million barrels-per-day capacity.

"We are still trying to unravel why it happened and who was behind [it]," said an unnamed government official, as quoted by the Agence France-Presse news agency.

Authorities say it was not immediately known who was responsible for the attack. A group called the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) released a statement saying "This attack was sanctioned by MEND, but did not involve our fighters."