MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) announced earlier today that it had set a pumping station owned by US oil company Chevron on fire. The group warned of a fresh batch of attacks last weekend.

In its stated objective of creating a fairer distribution of oil in the Niger Delta region, MEND has been carrying out a barrage of attacks on foreign owned oil companies for years. Due to these attacks, oil production in Nigeria has been cut by more than a quarter. The daily output of oil has been cut to 1.76 million barrels as opposed to 2.6 million barrels produced in January 2006. Angola has now surpassed Nigeria as the top oil producing country in the continent.

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