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The nation’s crude oil fortunes took another downward plunge, yesterday, following attacks by Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, on pipelines close to Escravos Tank Farm at Ciera creek, near Abiteye community, Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, operated by Chevron Nigeria Limited. The attacks, on two separate gas and crude oil pipelines belonging to Chevron, Wednesday night, caught security agents and the oil company unawares.
It was learnt that both lines were blown up during Wednesday’s downpour which prevented residents and workers from hearing the explosions. An underground Chevron crude oil trunk line along the Ceria creek, near Abiteye, and a major electricity gas line were severely affected in the attacks. Sources said both incidents happened a short distance from the company’s multi-billion dollar tank farm in Escravos. It was gathered that the incident was noticed by workers in the production department when they observed a drop in production pressure early yesterday.
Top Chevron management staff and a security source confirmed the incident to our correspondent. The source said a technical team of experienced engineers had been dispatched to the scene of the spill to ascertain the true cause. A local source in the area said: “At the moment, the entire creeks are awash with crude oil.”
Another Chevron source, while confirming the incident, said: “The explosions occurred while it was raining. There are two Chevron gas lines, which are the onshore and offshore. It was the offshore pipeline that was affected, while the other one is a crude oil line. The affected pipelines are located between the Chevron Tank Farm and Ceria near Abiteye community.”
Efforts made to reach Isa Ado, spokesman of JTF, to speak on the development did not yield result as he did not respond to calls and SMS sent to his telephone. Deji Haastrup, Chevron’s spokesman, did not take calls put to his lines, while mail sent to him was also not replied at press time.
