Nigerian youths blow up oil pipeline and cut output

By Randy Fabi

ABUJA (Reuters) - Armed youths blew up a Nigerian crude oil pipeline operated by U.S. major Chevron, a militant group said on Saturday, cutting more output from the world's eighth largest oil exporter.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it was contacted by youths claiming responsibility for Thursday's attack on Chevron's Abiteye-Olero crude pipeline.

The military said about 120,000 barrels per day of crude oil production was shut by the sabotage.

"For production to have stopped, this shows the damage was serious," said the government's Army Brigadier-General Wuyep Rintip, head of the Joint Task Force in the western Delta.

A Chevron spokeswoman confirmed that one of its pipelines was damaged, but declined to say how much output was affected.

A wave of attacks in the West African country has cut production by a fifth since early 2006, helping push world oil prices to record highs.

Thursday's incident came hours after a bold night-time militant attack on Royal Dutch Shell's main offshore oil facility that cut Nigeria's oil output by 10 percent.

The rise in violence prompted Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua on Friday to order the country's armed forces to tighten security in the Niger Delta.