Major oil pipeline catches fire
2008-01-21 13:14
Lagos - A major oil pipeline belonging to Italian oil company, Agip, caught fire and a tanker truck exploded in separate incidents on Monday in southern Nigeria, said military and industry sources.
The oil pipeline at Omoku in Rivers state had been ruptured before it caught fire early on Monday, the sources said. It was not immediately clear if anyone was hurt in the incident.
Firefighters from Agip had put out the blaze. Meanwhile, a fuel tanker exploded on Monday morning near Port Harcourt's main oil refinery, said military spokesperson Major Musa Sagir. The cause of the blast was unknown.
The two incidents came barely one week after the most prominent militant group in the restive Niger Delta claimed responsibility for a series of attacks.
Instability, violence
Last week, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said it planted an explosive device that set a tanker ship on fire in Port Harcourt.
It also claimed responsibility for an attack on a senior port official in the oil city and vowed further operations against the oil industry and related sectors.
Mend shot to prominence early last year with a string of kidnappings of foreign oil workers as well as attacks on oil company property.
The group said that, contrary to criminal gangs operating in the Niger Delta, it was working to improve the lot of the ordinary people of the region.
Instability and violence slashed by a quarter oil output in Nigeria, the world's eighth-largest crude exporter, in 2006 and 2007 to 2.1 million barrels per day, according to the latest estimates.
In 2007, more than 200 foreign workers were taken hostage, often being released after a ransom was paid.