PORT HARCOURT, Feb 7 - Nigerian militants attacked a gas plant operated by Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) in the Niger Delta on Saturday and warned of more attacks to come, but the army said it had repelled the raid and killed three gunmen.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the region's main militant group, said its fighters attacked the Utorogu gas plant in Delta state at about 0330 (0230 GMT).
A spokesman for Shell in Nigeria confirmed the attack and said one employee of its SPDC joint venture and two contractors had been hurt but were in a stable condition.
MEND, whose attacks in the Niger Delta have shut down more than a fifth of Nigeria's crude oil output over the past three years, called off a five-month-old ceasefire a week ago. It had warned it would strike in Rivers state further east.
"MEND decided on this location (Utorogu) to dispel the false sense of peace and security in Delta state which the governor has been boasting about," it said in an emailed statement.
"It is also to send a message to the oil companies that all the pipelines they have repaired in the western Delta will soon be in need of repairs again."
During early 2006 and 2007, militant attacks on industry installations focused on the Niger Delta's western states of Delta and Bayelsa. A significant amount of oil production in the western delta remains shut down because of the sabotage.
More recently, the violence has centred around Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers state to the east, although much of the unrest has been criminal rather than political in nature, including frequent kidnappings for ransom and piracy.
STRIKE THREAT
Nigeria's white collar oil workers' union PENGASSAN has threatened indefinite strike action from Monday after a surge in criminality, saying it will only call off the action if the government takes immediate steps to improve security.
More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta since MEND launched its campaign of attacks three years ago, most of them released unharmed. But ransom-seekers have increasingly targeted wealthy Nigerians.
The family of a Nigerian employee of Italian energy firm Agip (ENI.MI) said on Saturday he had been released after being kidnapped in Port Harcourt earlier this week.
The wife of former oil minister Edmund Daukoru was also freed unharmed early on Friday after gunmen kidnapped her from a shopping mall in Port Harcourt on Tuesday. MEND, which has denied involvement, said a ransom of $2.5 million was paid to the kidnappers but there was no confirmation of this.
A nine-year-old Nigerian boy whose father works for Shell was also freed on Friday, a week after gunmen kidnapped him and killed his 11-year old sister as they walked to school.
The Nigerian army said it had repelled the attack on Utorogu, which feeds power plants around southern Nigeria, killing three of the gunmen.
"There was no impact on the facility. Our soldiers are still guarding it," Colonel Rabe Abubakar, spokesman for the joint military taskforce in the western Niger Delta, said.
MEND warned a week ago of a "sweeping assault" on Nigeria's oil and gas industry, the biggest in Africa. The group is still holding two British oil workers kidnapped five months ago, and said on Friday one of them was "very ill".
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the region's main militant group, said its fighters attacked the Utorogu gas plant in Delta state at about 0330 (0230 GMT).
A spokesman for Shell in Nigeria confirmed the attack and said one employee of its SPDC joint venture and two contractors had been hurt but were in a stable condition.
MEND, whose attacks in the Niger Delta have shut down more than a fifth of Nigeria's crude oil output over the past three years, called off a five-month-old ceasefire a week ago. It had warned it would strike in Rivers state further east.
"MEND decided on this location (Utorogu) to dispel the false sense of peace and security in Delta state which the governor has been boasting about," it said in an emailed statement.
"It is also to send a message to the oil companies that all the pipelines they have repaired in the western Delta will soon be in need of repairs again."
During early 2006 and 2007, militant attacks on industry installations focused on the Niger Delta's western states of Delta and Bayelsa. A significant amount of oil production in the western delta remains shut down because of the sabotage.
More recently, the violence has centred around Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers state to the east, although much of the unrest has been criminal rather than political in nature, including frequent kidnappings for ransom and piracy.
STRIKE THREAT
Nigeria's white collar oil workers' union PENGASSAN has threatened indefinite strike action from Monday after a surge in criminality, saying it will only call off the action if the government takes immediate steps to improve security.
More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta since MEND launched its campaign of attacks three years ago, most of them released unharmed. But ransom-seekers have increasingly targeted wealthy Nigerians.
The family of a Nigerian employee of Italian energy firm Agip (ENI.MI) said on Saturday he had been released after being kidnapped in Port Harcourt earlier this week.
The wife of former oil minister Edmund Daukoru was also freed unharmed early on Friday after gunmen kidnapped her from a shopping mall in Port Harcourt on Tuesday. MEND, which has denied involvement, said a ransom of $2.5 million was paid to the kidnappers but there was no confirmation of this.
A nine-year-old Nigerian boy whose father works for Shell was also freed on Friday, a week after gunmen kidnapped him and killed his 11-year old sister as they walked to school.
The Nigerian army said it had repelled the attack on Utorogu, which feeds power plants around southern Nigeria, killing three of the gunmen.
"There was no impact on the facility. Our soldiers are still guarding it," Colonel Rabe Abubakar, spokesman for the joint military taskforce in the western Niger Delta, said.
MEND warned a week ago of a "sweeping assault" on Nigeria's oil and gas industry, the biggest in Africa. The group is still holding two British oil workers kidnapped five months ago, and said on Friday one of them was "very ill".
