Nigeria's Oil War Continues

Nigerian militants celebrate a successful raid against an oil facility in the Niger Delta earlier this week. Militants in Nigeria say they have destroyed a pipeline run by Royal Dutch Shell in the sixth attack of a declared "oil war," with the armed group vowing to reduce oil exports to "zero". (AFP/File/Pius Utomi Ekpei)

Nigeria Militants Wage Most Intense Oil War For Years -- Reuters

LAGOS, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Nigerian militants said on Saturday they had destroyed another major oil pipeline in the Niger Delta after a week of the most intense attacks against Africa's biggest oil and gas industry for years.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it had attacked a pipeline operated by Royal Dutch Shell at Buguma Front in Rivers state late on Friday and warned its campaign was not over.

A Shell spokeswoman in Nigeria said the company was investigating the claim, but gave no further details.

The Anglo-Dutch giant, the company hardest hit by the violence, declared a second force majeure on Bonny Light oil shipments on Friday following the week's unrest but gave no details on production.

"MEND will continue to nibble every day at the oil infrastructure in Nigeria until the oil exports reach zero," the group said in an e-mailed statement.

MEND fighters have hit pipelines, flow stations and oil and gas facilities in the Niger Delta every day since last Sunday, when the group declared an "oil war" in response to what it said were military ground and air strikes.

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My Comment: The various guerrilla groups in the Delta region are determined to destroy Nigeria's oil infrastructure through attrition. This reminds me of what an American officer had to say about the Vietnam War .... we had to destroy the village in order to save it. In Nigeria, the various factions are destroying the oil industry in order to prosper from it.