Nigerian oil pumping plummets after sabotage

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117562§ionid=3510213


Oil giant firm, Royal Dutch Shell, has been forced to stop pumping from the Niger Delta, after a pipeline was sabotaged in the region.

An unknown amount of crude oil seeped from the pipelines into the surrounding area where militants have promised to launch attacks against the oil industry, officials said Sunday.

"The leak, confirmed to have been caused by sabotage, has stopped with the shutdown of three flow stations yesterday," said a company spokeswoman in Nigeria.

"We are continuing to recover spilled oil, and deploying additional booms to contain the spread of the crude," the spokesman said.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the same Trans-Ramos pipeline was attacked in June by militants.

The militant group, MEND (the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta), claims to be fighting for greater share of oil resources for local people and has warned oil firms to prepare for what it called an all-out onslaught against installations and personnel.

The attacks have cost Nigeria millions in lost revenue over several years.

Shell said there were no injuries in the rupture of the pipeline, which runs through the rural swamplands and creeks of the oil-rich Niger Delta where oil workers remain at risk of being kidnapped by criminals and militants for ransom.