Thursday June 25, 06:51 AM
Nigerian rebels attack major Shell pipeline : MEND
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LAGOS (AFP) - Nigerian rebels said they carried out a pre-dawn attack against Royal Dutch Shell (Amsterdam: RDSA.AS - news) facilities as part of a drive to cripple their country's multi-billion-dollar oil industry.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it was timed to coincide with the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
During the visit, the two countries signed a raft of agreements and Russian gas giant Gazprom unveiled plans to link vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe via a Trans-Saharan pipeline, a project that could be worth billions of dollars.
The attack on Bille-Krakama pipeline, which feeds the Bonny main export terminal in southern Rivers State, was carried out shortly after midnight Thursday.
"This is the fate that awaits the gas pipelines you plan to invest in (in) Nigeria if justice is not factored in the whole process," MEND said in a statement addressed to Medvedev.
MEND, the main militant group in the oil-rich southern Nigeria, stages regular attacks on oil installations claiming it is fighting for a fairer share of oil wealth for locals in the Delta region.
Unrest in the Niger Delta has substantially reduced Nigeria's oil output, putting pressure on crucial export earnings since 2006.
Nigeria's daily oil output currently stands at 1.8 million barrels, according to the June report of the International Energy Agency: considerably lower than the 2.6 million barrels a day in 2006.
President Umaru Yar'Adua on Wednesday expressed hope he would have resolved the Niger Delta crisis by year end.
"I am hopeful and confident that by the end of this year, we will have a secure and stable environment in the Niger Delta," he told reporters at a joint news conference with Medvedev.
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