By Tife Owolabi
YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Militants attacked a crude oil pipeline operated by Italy's ENI on Saturday, a Nigerian state government said, hours after the Niger Delta Avengers militants claimed another strike in the region.
Nigeria's oil output has fallen to a 20-year low due to attacks on pipelines in the southern swamps, home to much of its hydrocarbon resources, which have compounded the impact of low oil prices on Africa's largest economy.
"The Bayelsa State Government has condemned in its entirety the attack on a trunk line belonging to Agip (ENI) by (a) new militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers," it said in a statement. Bayelsa lies in the Delta region.
The Avengers, who have been targeting oil and gas facilities for the last three months, earlier said on Twitter they had attacked the Nembe pipelines 1, 2 and 3, pumping Royal Dutch Shell's Bonny Light crude, and an Agip facility, at 0215 local time (0115 GMT).
"Something Big is about to happen," the group later tweeted.
A Bayelsa spokesman said later the Nembe pipelines had not been hit. Nengi James, a chairman of the Nembe Oil and Gas Committee that liaises with oil firms, said vandals had targeted the Agip pipeline, which had been attacked before.
Shell and ENI were not immediately available for comment. Shell declared force majeure on Bonny Light loadings after a previous attack on the Nembe creek trunk pipeline, but some exports had been continuing with delays.