ABUJA, July 17: Nigerian community members blew up an oil pipeline operated by Italy’s Eni in the restive Niger Delta, cutting output further in the world’s eighth largest oil exporter, a state governor said on Thursday.

It was the second attack in as many days by community members in the delta, the heart of Nigeria’s oil production.

“Some community members went into the forest where the pipeline is located and under cover of night blew it up,”

Bayelsa state Governor Timipre Sylva said. “The amountof crude affected was not too significant.”

Sylva said the attack shut down oil flow of around 20,000 barrels per day but the pipeline could resume operations in the next few days. The pipeline is connected to the Brass River export crude terminal, operated by Eni.

Eni officials were not immediately available for comment.

Attacks on oil facilities have become increasingly common as militants and residents of the delta seek greater control of the region’s rich resources.

Violence in Nigeria has cut the country’s output by a fifth since early 2006, helping push world oil prices to record highs.

Sylva said Thursday’s attack was sparked by a “community dispute” with foreign oil companies working in the area. He did not elaborate.

The attack followed a waterborne shootout on Wednesday near Port Harcourt between militants and Nigerian security forces in which five people were killed and several wounded.

About 30 armed men in speedboats attacked a navy vessel that was guarding key oil facilities in southern Rivers state. Three militants, a naval serviceman and a civilian were killed. No group has claimed responsibility.

The surge in violence has prompted President Umaru Yar’Adua to seek international assistance, and Britain said on Wednesday it would provide military experts to advise Nigeria’s security forces.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the main rebel group in the region, ended a two-week ceasefire on Saturday in retaliation for an earlier British promise of help for the government’s efforts to tackle the violence.

In a statement on its website, Eni said that “last night a sudden drop of pressure has occurred at the Nigerian pipelines linking Tebidaba flowstation to Brass terminal and Ogbambiri flowstation to Tebidaba flowstation.

“Production has therefore been suspended (47,000 barrels of oil per day, of which 8,000 are Eni’s equity).

“The units in charge of restoring operations have been immediately activated. At the moment the causes of the incident are unknown.”

Several foreign firms, including French tyre company Michelin and oil servicing firm Wilbros, have left the Niger Delta because of security problems.

The latest attack came hours after Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell said it had lifted a force majeure on its Bonny Light crude in southern Nigeria, restoring some 130,000 barrels per day.

Shell had declared force majeure -- a legal clause allowing producers to miss contracted deliveries because of circumstances beyond their control -- on the facility in May after an attack on its Nembe Creek trunk line at Awoba in Rivers state.

Deliveries from Shell’s offshore Bonga oilfield in Nigeria were also suspended for nearly three weeks following an attack on June 20 by the militant Movement for the MEND.

Meanwhile, a prominent militant group in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta said on Thursday it was not behind an attack on a navy vessel that killed five people and wounded several the previous day.—Agencies