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02/18/2006:

"Nigeria oil 'total war' warning"

A Nigerian militant commander in the oil-rich southern Niger Delta has told the BBC his group is declaring "total war" on all foreign oil interests.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has given oil companies and their employees until midnight on Friday night to leave the region.

It recently blew up two oil pipelines, held four foreign oil workers hostage and sabotaged two major oilfields.

The group wants greater control of the oil wealth produced on their land.

The warning came as militants and the army exchanged fire after a government helicopter gunship attacked barges allegedly used by smugglers to transport stolen crude oil.
bbc.co.uk


Nigerian military launches attack on targets in the Delta
Military officials said a helicopter gunship equipped with rocket launchers attacked about eight barges used to smuggle stolen crude oil on Wednesday after spotting them on a routine flight in the western delta. The government says it is trying to cut down on oil theft, known locally as “bunkering”.

Militants said local villages had been randomly sprayed with machine gun fire. No casualty figures are available. The operation coincided with a visit by Jack Straw, UK foreign minister, to the delta, where he met oil industry officials to discuss security issues.


Fire razes Shell oil well
PORT HARCOURT--AN oil well operated by Shell 30 kilometres south of Port Harcourt caught fire yesterday 24 hours after militant youths threatened revenge against it for making its facility available for an attack on an Ijaw community in Delta State.

Ijaw leaders said yesterday that the death toll in Wednesday's helicopter gunship attack on Perezouweikore-gbene had risen to 30, and asked the Federal Government to call the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta to order.

Shell, defending itself on the allegation of allowing its Osubi airstrip in Warri to be used by the military as base for the attack said it had no control over the use of the airfield.

Fire-fighters were battling the blaze on a well head in the Cawthorne Channel, near Port Harcourt last night, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant said.