Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 6 -- Agip's Tebidaba oil pumping station in Nigeria's southern Bayelsa state has been overrun and shut down following an attack on Nov. 6 by armed militants, according to company and government officials.
The firm said 48 people, including workers and security guards, were at the pumping station when the attack occurred but it reported no deaths or injuries. It said oil production was suspended for security reasons.
A Nigerian national security official further confirmed the attack, saying militants shut down the place but that they have not yet issued any demands to be met.
A senior official from the state environment department, however, said the militants were demanding restitution for pollution caused by the company's operations in the area as well as jobs for community members.
The attack follows a spate of recent actions against oil firms by militants in the region.
On Nov. 3, the US government issued a warning of probable militant attacks on oil facilities throughout the volatile Niger Delta region (OGJ Online, Nov. 3, 2006). A day earlier armed gunmen in Nigeria kidnapped two expatriate oil workers during a raid on an oil services ship operated by Norway-based Petroleum Geo-services in the Niger Delta (OGJ Online, Nov. 2, 2006).
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
