Chevron Nigeria Gas Pipe Attacked

A new militant group, Niger Delta Avengers, said early May 26 they destroyed a main pipeline supplying gas used to generate electricity for the Escravos tank farm in Delta state run by Chevron, reported Vanguard and other Nigerian newspapers. Reuters quoted sources saying that Chevron’s 90,000 b/d oil production at Escravos had been shut down.

The Escravos area is also home to a 33,000 b/d gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant, opened 2014 at a cost of $10bn, and is the starting point for the strategic West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP), which exports to Ghana – both also operated by Chevron. There were no reports whether they were impacted.

Chevron declined to answer whether it had declared force majeure over Escravos oil and gas production, or to discuss the status of its WAGP and Escravos GTL joint venture facilities, or whether its staff were still at work.

In a statement emailed to Natural Gas Africa, it said only: “As a matter of long-standing policy, we do not comment on the safety and security of our personnel and operations.”

There have been several attacks on oil or gas pipes by militants this month, including one on May 13 on a Chevron oil pipe.

Mark Smedley