Nigerian navy repels attack on Shell oil station

LAGOS, Nov 15 (Reuters) Nigerian security forces repelled a militant attack on an oil facility in the Niger Delta today, killing at least two suspected militants and capturing another two, security sources said.

About 60 militants in speed boats launched the pre-dawn raid on a logistics base operated by Royal Dutch Shell at Nun River in Bayelsa state, but met heavy resistance from about 22 navy details protecting the facility.

''There was a Shell facility the militants were planning to attack. Three were killed and some were captured,'' a defence official said, asking not to be named.

A security source put the number of suspected militants killed at two.

''It is the first significant success of the navy,'' he said.

Poorly paid and ill-equipped, Nigerian security forces often abandon their posts when oil facilities are attacked because they are usually outgunned and outnumbered by militants.

It was the second attack on Shell facilities in the Nun River area in a month. Villagers from the Oporoma community seized a nearby oil pumping station on October 10, capturing 60 oil workers, but they were released after two days.

Shell was forced to reduce output from the facility by 12,000 barrels per day, but production resumed after the siege.

There were no oil workers at the field base that was attacked on Monday because they had all been evacuated after last month's attack, a Shell source said.

Shell accounts for the lion's share of about 600,000 barrels a day shut in Nigeria since a wave of militant attacks in neighbouring Delta state in February.

Another oil production facility at Tebidaba in Bayelsa state has been under siege by militants since Nov. 6, reducing output there by 50,000 barrels a day.

About 40 workers of Italian oil company Agip are being held on the platform while militants discuss their demands for oil spill compensation with the local government.

REUTERS PB BS1921