WARRI —THE Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, which
vowed on Monday to continue to obstruct all
avenues by President Muhammadu Buhari to
export crude oil because of his refusal to
address its demands, blew up the Qua Iboe 48-
inch oil crude oil export line belonging to Exxon
Mobil in Akwa Ibom State in defiance of him.
Que Iboe returned to operation after a month
long force majeure in June, buoyed by the now
aborted ceasefire between the Niger Delta
Avengers and government, but the militant group,
which claimed responsibility for the attack,
wondered why the International Oil Companies
deceive themselves with government’s false
sense of security.
Spokesperson of the group, self-styled Gen.
Murdoch Agbinibo, said: “At 7:30p.m., the Niger
Delta Avengers blew up ExxonMobil Qua Iboe
483 crude oil export pipeline. When will these
International Oil companies learn to listen, we
(Avengers) said no export.”
Qua Iboe which crude oil grade stood at a $0.90
per barrel premium had witnessed strong trade
interest since the release of its provisional
August programme on June 27.
Same day, Shell Petroleum Development
Company, SPDC, shut down the Trans Niger
Pipeline, one of the two major pipelines that
carries the Bonny Light crude grade for export
following an outflow in Gio, Ogoni land, Rivers
State.
The company had only last week resumed export
on the pipeline after almost two months of force
majeure, following the restoration of production
to Bonny Terminal.
Officials said the company was working on a
joint investigation into the leak on Trans Niger
Pipeline.
However, the militant group, which said it was
closely monitoring repairs on damaged pipelines,
attacked the Nembe 1, 2 and 3 Tedeba Brass
trunk lines in Bayelsa and Rivers states on June
8, after the company carried out repairs on
leaking Nembe Creek Trunk Line, NCTL.
It also bombed the Forcados 48-inch Crude
Export Terminal in Delta State afresh, last month,
because Shell flouted its order not to carry out
repairs of any sort on its installations damaged
by the militant group until government addressed
its demands.
Series of deliberate attacks on facilities of
Chevron Nigeria Limited and Nigeria Agip Oil
Company, by the militant group to stall export
had also hampered oil production by the
companies.
Vanguard learned that the gain of the temporal
ceasefire by militants, which saw an increase in
oil export, has disappeared with the recent
attacks.
The militant group, it will be recalled had said:
“Until President Buhari takes our demands
seriously and set up a genuine framework to
address the Niger Delta question, we will
continue to obstruct all avenues to export our
crude oil to develop his 97 per cent (95 per
cent). In fact, whenever we have any contact to
establish a genuine negotiation and dialogue, we
will not hesitate to let the world know that we
are in dialogue with the government and her
representatives.”
Military consider action against militants
The armed forces are reportedly considering the
next line of attack against the Avengers. The
Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Tukur Burutai, and
other security chiefs are not disposed to
dialogue with militants. They are supposedly
mobilizing for a combined fresh offensive by all
the relevant security agencies.
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