A community leader in Nigeria’s oil rich region on Monday said unknown militants blew up a crude oil pipeline on the outskirts of Warri, a city in the Niger Delta.

The pipeline is operated by a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Two blasts were heard on the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) line Sunday night, said Batan community chairman Ogugu Dickson.

“This morning I and some PPMC workers, and security agents, were at the site. All we could see was a huge bubble (of oil) on the surface of the river,” said Dickson.

Oil facilities in Batan have been hit in the last few months.

Militants calling for a greater share of Nigeria’s energy wealth to go to the impoverished Delta area have carried out attacks oil and gas facilities in the southern region over the last few months.

NNPC are yet to confirm the incident.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but accusing fingers are pointing in the direction of the Niger Delta Avengers, a group which has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks in the Niger Delta region. Their attacks briefly pushed the country’s oil production to 30-year lows in spring.

Meanwhile, the Niger Delta Avengers yesterday chided Minister of Youths and Sports, Mr. Solomon Dalung, over claims that he held talks with the group recently at Oporoza, Gbaramatu Kingdom of Delta State.

Spokesperson of the group, Brigadier-General Murdoch Agbinibi, said in a statement that the minister met with fraudsters and not members of the group as claimed by reports credited to Dalung.

“Niger Delta Avengers cannot stoop so low to send representatives to meet with a common minister that doesn’t know his job,” he said.

Distancing the group from any rapport with Dalung, the statement further read: “the Minister of Youths and Sports, Solomon Dalung has been defrauded and played by fraudsters as he hadn’t had any meeting with us.”

“Let us make this clear, any meeting with Niger Delta Avengers that the international community are not part of and there to witness, we will not be part of any such dialogue as well.”

•Pieced together from stories by TV360 Nigeria and Independent. Photo shows Niger Delta militants.

Update news