Niger Delta Avengers shatter hopes of quick peace blowing up two Chevron oils wells

HOPES of an immediate end to the ongoing militancy in the Niger Delta have been dashed after the armed group the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) continued its campaign with the blowing up of two oil wells in Delta State over the weekend.

 

Over recent months, Niger Delta militants have taken up arms again, blowing up oil pipelines and installations, cutting the nation's crude oil output to 1.4m barrels a day from 2.2m barrels. Initially, the government tried to use force to suppress the uprising but when that failed, it agreed to enter into dialogue and set up a committee to initiate talks.

 

It had been hoped that the militant groups would agree to suspend their campaign and enter into negotiations with the government after preliminary talks but this hope has now been dashed. Yesterday, the NDA blew up two of Chevron’s two major oil wells close to the Abiteye flow station in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State.

 

One security official said: “I just spoke with my men in the area and they confirmed the attack. Preliminary investigations so far from our men in the field is that dynamite was used to blow up the facilities just like in previous attacks.”

 

On Saturday, the NDA said that its strike team had blown up two major crude oil trunk lines belonging to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company close to Batan flow station in Delta State. Then on Sunday, the avengers tweeted that it had also blown up the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation crude oil trunk line to Warri Refinery.