Chevron Idama Platform Hit

US oil giant Chevron yesterday confirmed a shooting around its Idama platform in the Niger Delta region.

A statement on the company's website quoted it as saying, "Chevron Nigeria Limited can confirm reports of shooting in the area of its Idama facilities, Rivers State, at about 1.00 a.m. (0000 GMT) (yesterday). The attack had been reported to the appropriate government authorities and investigation is ongoing".

There were conflicting versions of what actually happened at Idama. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), said five of its scouts on a recce around the Idama flowstation, were involved in a minor skirmish with nervous soldiers guarding the station".

The statement also quoted a Nigerian military officer as saying yesterday that his men had repelled an attempt to blow up a Chevron facility overnight.

The company said it was monitoring the situation closely."We can confirm that no CNL (Chevron Nigeria Limited) employee was hurt as a result of the incident. There are no expatriates on the Idama platform and none was involved in the incident," the company said.

"At this time, we do not have information to suggest that the attack was directed specifically at Chevron," it continued.

In terms of production, Chevron said the Idama facility had been shut-in prior to the incident as a result of on-going pipeline repair work. "The shooting incident has not had any additional impact on current levels of CNL production", the statement noted.

Since Saturday, when MEND first evoked a possible oil war, the group has claimed two attacks on Royal Dutch Shell facilities which resulted in the company evacuating 100 of its workers from the area.

(allAfrica.com)