Upsurge of violence in Niger Delta

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, Sept 16 - Five gunmen in Nigeria kidnapped a British expatriate in the oil hub Port Harcourt, and militants launched attacks on two oil installations in the Niger Delta, security sources said on Tuesday.

In the heaviest fighting in two years, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta attacked a Royal Dutch Shell oil pipeline and Chevron-operated oilfield late Monday and early Tuesday morning. But a military spokesman dismissed Mend’s claims, saying there were no security breaches.

The hostage, a former employee of the petrochemicals firm Indo Rama, was seized late on Monday, the sources said. No group has yet claimed responsibility.

More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta, the heart of the country’s oil sector, since early 2006. Almost all have been released unharmed.

The oil market, focusing on the impact of the credit crisis on the global economy, has largely ignored the escalation in violence in the world’s eighth largest oil exporter. Prices on Tuesday traded at a seven-month low near $92 a barrel.

Militant group Mend - which has been responsible for attacks that have cut a fifth of the Opec member’s output since early 2006 - said ”A major crude oil pipeline ... belonging to the Shell Petroleum Development Company was destroyed with high explosives. The pipeline was located at Degema in Rivers state.

A security source said the militant group also attacked Chevron’s Idama oilfield, but were repelled by security forces. ”As a precaution, the company has evacuated its offshore personnel,” the source said.

Shell and Chevron officials were not immediately available for comment.

Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, spokesman for the military task force in Rivers state, said there were no successful militant attacks in the state since early Monday.

”No facility, national asset or military location was attacked in our area of responsibility,” Musa said. ”The situation is being closely monitored and is under control.”

Some security sources in the oil industry estimate more than 100 people may have been killed by the clashes, which have spread to at least seven villages in Rivers state.

The military says militants have incurred ”heavy losses,” but have declined to elaborate. Mend says at least 29 people, most of them soldiers, have died.

Militants have bombed pipelines, platforms, gas plants and oilfields, shutting up to 115,000 barrels per day of oil production in the last four days, government officials said.

The violence has prompted Shell to reduce the number of employees at some of its Nigerian oilfields. An industry source said nearly 100 staff have been evacuated.