Nigeria militants plan to destroy oil pipelines

By Nick Tattersall

LAGOS (Reuters) - The main militant group in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta said on Wednesday it would attack major oil pipelines in the next 30 days to prove it had not received payment from the government to end its campaign.

The head of the state-run oil firm NNPC was quoted in Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday as saying the company had paid militant groups $12 million (6 million pounds) to protect facilities including the Chanomi creek pipeline in Delta state.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), whose attacks have cut Nigeria's oil output by around a fifth since early 2006, said the money had gone to criminal gangs and that genuine "freedom fighters" could not be bought off.

"MEND is aware that huge payments have been made to some criminal gangs in Delta state as a protection fee...MEND will never sell its birthright for a bowl of porridge," the group said in an e-mailed statement.

"To prove that we are not a part of this deal, the Chanomi creek pipeline and other major pipelines will be destroyed within the next 30 days," it said.

Bomb attacks on pipelines in the delta, the hub of Africa's biggest oil industry which produces around 2 million barrels per day, have disrupted supplies from the world's eighth biggest oil exporter and helped push global energy prices to record highs.

Anglo-Dutch giant Royal Dutch Shell, whose facilities have been amongst the worst hit by MEND's campaign of sabotage, has a pipeline in the Chanomi creek which feeds into the Forcados oil export terminal.

"SETTLING THE BOYS"