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Armed men suspected to be members of a militant group in the Niger Delta on Thursday attacked a major platform of Chevron Nigeria Limited.
Chevron, an operator of a joint venture with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said the attack occurred at about 11.15 pm on Wednesday.
It is the latest in a series of attacks on oil facilities since President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to treat “vandals and saboteurs” in the region as terrorists.
“Its Okan offshore facility in the Western Niger Delta region was breached by unknown persons,” said Chevron in the statement.
“The facility is currently shut-in and we are assessing the situation, and have deployed resources to respond to a resulting spill,” the company added.
A group, the Niger Delta Avengers, which had earlier claimed responsibility for the sabotage a Shell Petroleum Development Company facility in the Forcados areas of Delta State, also took responsibility for the latest attack.
The group said in a statement signed by Madoch Agninibo, that it planned to attack other oil installations outside the Niger Delta in Abuja and Lagos as well as multinational oil companies operating in the Niger Delta, to pressurise government to meet their demands.
