PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, March 5 (Reuters) - Oil thieves sabotaged a Chevron-operated <CVX.N> pipeline in the restive Niger Delta but no oil production was affected, a military spokesman said on Thursday. Colonel Rabe Abubakar, spokesman for the joint military taskforce in the eastern Niger Delta, said troops discovered oil spillages from a burst oil pipeline near the border of Bayelsa and Delta states in southern Nigeria. "The spillages in these communities were an act of sabotage," he said. "Evidence around the spillage area showed that illegal oil bunkerers were again in operation." Nigeria is the world's eighth biggest exporter of crude oil but thieves take a sizeable proportion of its output by drilling into pipelines or hijacking barges loaded with oil, theft known locally as "bunkering". Some estimates say 100,000 barrels of crude are stolen from the Niger Delta each day, about five percent of the country's production and equivalent to around $4 million daily or $1.5 billion a year at current prices. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ ) (Reporting by Austin Ekeinde; writing by Randy Fabi; editing by Tim Pearce)
A fire fighter attempts to put out fire at the offices of All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) in Nigeria's capital Abuja, March 5, 2009. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde (NIGERIA) ...
