Nigerian oil bombings cut output

ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigerian rebels blew up three oil pipelines in the Niger Delta on Tuesday, forcing Italian oil giant Eni to halt production of 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) feeding its Brass export terminal, a source at Eni said.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which has now shut down more than 30 percent of Nigerian oil output, said in an e-mail it bombed the pipelines to embarrass President Olusegun Obasanjo in his last days in office.


The MEND vowed to carry out more attacks in the world’s eight-largest crude exporter, where about 700,000 bpd, or a quarter of total capacity, were already being lost before the latest attacks.

“If those two pipelines have been blown up then there is zero production. They are the only two pipelines that carry all our production,” said an Eni source, asking not to be named.

Reuters