NNPC Closes Pipeline Valve in Nigeria Delta After Gas Leak
Nigeria's state oil firm NNPC managed to close a valve in a pipeline in the Niger Delta after a gas leak following an explosion, a community leader said on Thursday.
Militant group Niger Delta Avengers has claimed it blew up the pipeline.
"At around 4 a.m. we heard the loud noise of an explosion, then a sound like rain so we came out and saw gas gushing out from the NNPC pipeline," said Nsikak Joshua, a community leader in Ikot-Osute, the site of the blast.
"There is no fire there now. Engineers ... have switched off the valve," he said.
(Reporting by Anamesere Igboeroteonwu; Writing by Ulf Laessing)
