Militants behind a string of attacks aimed at disrupting Nigeria's oil industry said they intended to target all producers in the country, in a message that singled out U.S.-based Chevron. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which has already caused major disruption at Royal Dutch Shell and kidnapped four foreign oil workers, said it has also attacked installations run by France's Total and Italy's Agip, a unit of ENI. "We have decided not to limit our attacks to Shell oil as our ultimate aim is to prevent Nigeria from exporting oil," the militant group said in an email statement to Reuters. So far, Shell is the only major operator to have said it suffered at the hands of the ethnic Ijaw militants, who are demanding greater control for the impoverished local people over the delta's enormous oil wealth. "The reports of attacks on Agip and Total flow stations are correct," the group said. "We will attack all oil companies including Chevron facilities." Spokesmen for the French and Italian companies in Nigeria dismissed the statement. Oil industry executives met urgently with government officials on Wednesday in Abuja to discuss security in the delta's mangrove swamps and tidal creeks.
