Nigerian militants destroy Chevron facility, hijack tanker

Nigerian militants said Monday they destroyed a Chevron oil pipeline junction and seized six crew from a ship in the latest attacks on Nigeria's key money earner since the government offered an amnesty.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it attacked the Okan manifold and captured three Russians, two Filipinos and one Indian from a tanker, both on Sunday.

According to the rebels, the manifold controls about 80 percent of the crude that Chevron Nigeria Limited sends to its BOP Crude Loading Platform.

A Chevron spokesman said an investigation had started and no comment would be made.

The rebels seized the chemical tanker, Sichem Peace, in Delta State waters for ignoring a warning to industry tankers to stay away from the Niger Delta.

"Their arrest is meant to serve as a warning to others that there are root issues that have to be resolved with the Nigerian government before normalcy can resume," said a MEND statement.

Those issues included an end to security force operations against rebels and progress on getting the wealth generated by the oil-rich Niger Delta channeled back into the region.

President Umaru Yar'Adua on June 25 offered an amnesty to any rebel in the Niger Delta who lays down his arms. The government has said the amnesty, which starts August 6, also applies to detained MEND leader Henry Okah.

But MEND, which says it is fighting for a fairer distribution of the Delta oil wealth, has claimed at least five attacks since the offer was made.

Its latest statement said: "As long as the Nigerian government and military JTF (Joint Task Force) has chosen to carry out kidnappings and arson against innocent communities and individuals, ... (we) will fight for them."

One of MEND's demands is for the JTF -- a special unit made up of the military, police, navy, airforce and state intelligence services -- to pull out of the Niger Delta.

But JTF says it will only pull out when its mission to rid the region of crime and unrest is accomplished.

"We have a clear mandate to end the violence and protect oil facilities in this volatile region," said JTF spokesman Colonel Rabe Abubakar.

"We will quit as soon as our task is over," Abubakar told AFP in an interview.

MEND on Monday called for the release of a traditional ruler it said the military is holding.

It has also demanded the release of Okah, who was detained in September 2007 and now faces treason charges.

"Government should display the highest form of integrity and sincerity over the detention of Henry Okah at this period of his fading health," said the MEND statement.

MEND said on Saturday that it destroyed Shell's Cawthorn Channel 1 well head, which supplies the Anglo-Dutch company's key Bonny loading terminal in Rivers state.

The rebels vowed on Saturday to thwart a 10-billion-dollar trans-Saharan gas pipeline project linking vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe which has been agreed by Algeria, Niger and Nigeria.

No date has been given for the start of work on the pipeline which will be more than 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) long. But the first gas is scheduled to be delivered in 2015.

MEND urged oil firms still operating in the Niger Delta to leave immediately, threatening new attacks.

MEND, the strongest of a series of groups fighting in the Niger Delta since 2006, has targeted Shell, Chevron and Italian group Agip.

The unrest has reduced Nigeria's exports to 1.8 million barrels per day from 2.6 million three and a half years ago. Nigeria, the world's eight largest oil exporter relies on oil for more than 90 percent of its foreign earnings.Nigerian militants said Monday they destroyed a Chevron oil pipeline junction and seized six crew from a ship in the latest attacks on Nigeria's key money earner since the government offered an amnesty.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it attacked the Okan manifold and captured three Russians, two Filipinos and one Indian from a tanker, both on Sunday.

According to the rebels, the manifold controls about 80 percent of the crude that Chevron Nigeria Limited sends to its BOP Crude Loading Platform.

A Chevron spokesman said an investigation had started and no comment would be made.

The rebels seized the chemical tanker, Sichem Peace, in Delta State waters for ignoring a warning to industry tankers to stay away from the Niger Delta.

"Their arrest is meant to serve as a warning to others that there are root issues that have to be resolved with the Nigerian government before normalcy can resume," said a MEND statement.

Those issues included an end to security force operations against rebels and progress on getting the wealth generated by the oil-rich Niger Delta channeled back into the region.

President Umaru Yar'Adua on June 25 offered an amnesty to any rebel in the Niger Delta who lays down his arms. The government has said the amnesty, which starts August 6, also applies to detained MEND leader Henry Okah.

But MEND, which says it is fighting for a fairer distribution of the Delta oil wealth, has claimed at least five attacks since the offer was made.

Its latest statement said: "As long as the Nigerian government and military JTF (Joint Task Force) has chosen to carry out kidnappings and arson against innocent communities and individuals, ... (we) will fight for them."

One of MEND's demands is for the JTF -- a special unit made up of the military, police, navy, airforce and state intelligence services -- to pull out of the Niger Delta.

But JTF says it will only pull out when its mission to rid the region of crime and unrest is accomplished.

"We have a clear mandate to end the violence and protect oil facilities in this volatile region," said JTF spokesman Colonel Rabe Abubakar.

"We will quit as soon as our task is over," Abubakar told AFP in an interview.

MEND on Monday called for the release of a traditional ruler it said the military is holding.

It has also demanded the release of Okah, who was detained in September 2007 and now faces treason charges.

"Government should display the highest form of integrity and sincerity over the detention of Henry Okah at this period of his fading health," said the MEND statement.

MEND said on Saturday that it destroyed Shell's Cawthorn Channel 1 well head, which supplies the Anglo-Dutch company's key Bonny loading terminal in Rivers state.

The rebels vowed on Saturday to thwart a 10-billion-dollar trans-Saharan gas pipeline project linking vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe which has been agreed by Algeria, Niger and Nigeria.

No date has been given for the start of work on the pipeline which will be more than 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) long. But the first gas is scheduled to be delivered in 2015.

MEND urged oil firms still operating in the Niger Delta to leave immediately, threatening new attacks.

MEND, the strongest of a series of groups fighting in the Niger Delta since 2006, has targeted Shell, Chevron and Italian group Agip.

The unrest has reduced Nigeria's exports to 1.8 million barrels per day from 2.6 million three and a half years ago. Nigeria, the world's eight largest oil exporter relies on oil for more than 90 percent of its foreign earnings.