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updated 10:20 AM UTC, Dec 13, 2023

Niger Delta Militant Attack Shuts Down Chevron Facility

Reuters: Chevron’s onshore activities in Nigeria’s Niger Delta have been shut down by a militant attack at its Escravos terminal, a company source said on Thursday.

A militant group called the Niger Delta Avengers, which has told oil firms to leave the delta before the end of May, said late on Wednesday that it had blown up the facility’s mains electricity feed.

“It is a crude line which means all activities in Chevron are grounded,” the source told Reuters, without elaborating.

A Twitter account with the group’s name said late on Wednesday: “We Warned #Chevron<twitter.com/hashtag/Chevron… but they didn’t Listen. @NDAvengers just blow up the Escravos tank farm Main Electricity Feed PipeLine.”

A Chevron spokeswoman in the United States said on Thursday that it was against policy to comment on the safety and security of personnel and operations.

The Avengers and other militants, who say they are fighting for a greater share of oil profits, an end to pollution and independence for the region, have intensified attacks in recent months, pushing oil output to its lowest in more than 20 years and compounding the problems faced by Africa’s largest economy.

Abuja has responded by moving in army reinforcements but British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond said this month that President Muhammadu Buhari needed to deal with the root causes.

Delta residents, some of whom sympathise with the militants, have long complained of poverty in an area producing oil accounting for 70 percent of national income.

Crude oil sales from the Delta account for 70 percent of national income but residents in the area, some of whom sympathise with the militants, have long complained of poverty.

Buhari has extended an amnesty deal signed with militants in 2009 that stepped up funding for the region. But he has cut funding for the amnesty programme and cancelled contracts with former militants to protect the pipelines they used to attack.

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