LAGOS - Several people were killed when suspected ethnic militants stormed a Nigerian oil platform on Sunday, extending a three-week spate of attacks which has hit output in the worldâs eighth largest exporter. Heavily armed men invaded Royal Dutch Shellâs Benisede oil flow station in six speed boats, exchanged fire with troops, torched two housing blocks, damaged oil processing facilities and Some attackers and some soldiers protecting the platform were killed in the gunfire, a top military official said. âThere was an attack. There was a fight there, an exchange of fire,â Brigadier-General Elias Zamani, who heads a military task force in the southern delta, told Reuters by telephone. âWe lost some soldiers and some of the other boys were killed also.â
| Just another senseless attack in paradise ... |
Shell evacuated Benisede and three other flow stations after Sundayâs attack, but oil output was unaffected because they were already closed after militants blew up a major crude oil pipeline nearby last Wednesday, the company said. However, Sundayâs attack may delay repairs to the 100,000 barrel-a-day Trans-Ramos pipeline, which had been expected to resume pumping to the Forcados tanker terminal on Monday or Tuesday, a senior industry source said.
The firefight occurred as a team of government negotiators began talking to militants holding four foreign oil workers hostage in the delta after abducting them from an offshore oilfield operated by Shell on Wednesday.
| Talks musta gone well. |