Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday ordered that all defense and security personnel in the southern oil-rich Niger Delta be placed in a state of "high alert" after two pipeline explosions that reportedly left 16 people killed, a presidential statement said.

"The president gave the order at a meeting with senior members of the nation's security and intelligence communities," the statement said. "The meeting was called to review the security situation in the Niger Delta following two pipelines explosions in the region in the past few days."

The statement said Obasanjo had reaffirmed the determination of the Nigerian government to provide adequate protection for persons and oil installations in the Niger Delta, where the majority of the world's eighth largest crude exporter's oil is produced.

"We will not abandon this country to brigands. Criminals must be chased, caught and punished," Obasanjo was quoted as telling the defense and security chiefs.

One of the two pipelines attacked by unidentified gunmen belonged to the biggest player in Nigeria's oil field, Royal Dutch Shell, which had been forced declared a "force majeure" and then halt oil supplies from the west African country.

Shell closed two oilfields and a flow station producing about 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) in all, or seven percent of the country's oil output, as parts of efforts to extinguish the fire caused by Tuesday's pipeline explosion, 50 km southwest of the oil city of Port Harcourt. The fire had killed at least 11 people so far, Nigerian newspapers reported.

Source: Xinhua