Armed secessionists have purportedly struck against Nigerian energy facilities in the oil-rich Niger Delta region for the second time in two days, according to AllAfrica.
The latest attack, believed to be by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) rebels, occurred on 4 July when they bombed two manifolds belonging to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the exploration and production division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), at the Mararaba community of Delta state. The NDA further claimed responsibility for targeting two more NNPC trunk lines as well as a Chevron oil well at the Batan community.
Security sources told the local press that the incidents in Mararaba occurred between the hours of 10:00 PM and 11:30 PM when the rebels took advantage of diminished military operations, whereas the Batan attacks took part at roughly the same time from 10:35 PM to 11:20 PM.
As reported on OilPrice on the 5th of July, unidentified militants attacked a boat carrying Eni oilfield workers, killing two of them. It's unknown if the NDA was behind this attack, which would be against their modus operandi of targeting facilities but not people.
The NDA went through a lull in their violence against oil pipelines and other energy installations following their alleged truce with the Nigerian government but the supposed deal was broken in June. The rebels subsequently resumed their attacks against the Nigerian energy infrastructure including bombings against five oil and gas facilities on June 3rd.
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The violence by the NDA and other armed groups in the Niger Delta is expected to further impact oil prices, which fell by around 4 percent yesterday. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) estimates militant activity has pushed Nigerian crude oil production to its lowest level in more than a decade, though the local Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice (CPEJ), a non-government organization, warned that proposed peace talks with the NDA must involve "critical leaders" from the Niger Delta.
"The fundamental issues are clear: the people of the Niger Delta need development and remediation of their environment which has been devastated by years of oil and gas exploration and exploitative activities," said the CPEJ via a statement.
By Erwin Cifuentes for Oilprice.com
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Erwin Cifuentes is a Contributing Editor for Southern Pulse Info where he focuses on politics, economics and security issues in Latin America and the Caribbean.… More