Blast hits NPDC pipeline in Nigeria's Delta region

YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - An explosion rocked a pipeline operated by a subsidiary of Nigeria's state oil company in the West African country's restive Delta region late on Thursday, a security official and a community leader both said on Friday.

Oil output by OPEC member Nigeria has fallen to a 20-year low due to a series of attacks on oil pipelines in the southern Niger Delta, home to much of the country's oil and gas wealth, in the last few months.

The Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) pipeline at Sanomi Creek, around the Ogidigben area of Warri South West, exploded around 8 p.m. local time (1900 GMT), said the source who said that people nearby heard "a loud explosion".

"There is fire burning," said Chief Godspower Gbenekama, a local community leader.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the blast.

On Wednesday, the Niger Delta Avengers, a militant group that has claimed responsibility for most of the recent attacks, rejected an offer to start talks with the government.

(Reporting by Tife Owolabi and Anamesere Igboeroteonwu, in Onitsha; writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; editing by Jason Neely)

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