* Militants attack Agip oil and gas pipeline

* Widening campaign after attacks on Chevron, Shell

* Oil output cut by 33,000 bpd in Niger Delta

(Adds Eni confirmation, oil prices)

By Randy Fabi

ABUJA, June 19 (Reuters) - Nigerian militants attacked an oil and gas pipeline operated by Agip <ENI.MI> on Friday, widening a campaign which has so far targeted Chevron and Shell and halting a further 33,000 barrels per day of oil production.

"A major pipeline which delivers crude oil to the Brass export terminal was blown up at the Nembe creek in Bayelsa state this morning," the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in a statement emailed to media.

The overnight attack on Eni's Ogoda Manifold-Brass Terminal pipeline halted production of around 33,000 barrels of oil and 2 million cubic metres of gas per day in the OPEC member country, the Italian firm said. [ID:nMAT009687]

The production stoppage comes on top of around 100,000 bpd shut by Chevron <CVX.N> and an undefined volume stopped by Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> following earlier militant attacks.

Oil prices <CLc1> rose 25 cents to $71.62, supported partly by the increase in violence in Nigeria, the world's eighth biggest crude oil exporter. [O/R]

MEND, which said its fighters had clashed with a military gunboat during the attack, has threatened to widen its campaign to offshore facilities in Africa's biggest oil and gas industry.

Security sources said some personnel were being evacuated from offshore installations as a precautionary measure.

A military spokesman said there was a "serious exchange of fire" with the attackers but the Agip facility had been secured.

MEND launched its latest campaign of sabotage after the military last month carried out its biggest offensive against armed gangs in the western Niger Delta for at least a decade, using gunboats, helicopters and battalions of ground troops.

VIOLENCE SPREADS

The militants' initial strikes were in Delta state where the military offensive took place, but Friday's attack is the second in neighbouring Bayelsa state following a similar raid on a Royal Dutch Shell installation late on Wednesday. [ID:nLH505597]

Shell said on Thursday some oil production had been halted following the attack on the Trans Ramos pipeline at Aghoro-2 community in Bayelsa. [ID:nLI310768]

U.S. energy firm Chevron shut down its operations around Delta state after MEND's first pipeline attack in its latest campaign on May 24, halting around 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of output. [ID:nLP693007]

The military offensive in Delta state last month focused on "Camp 5" and the community of Oporoza, the base and home respectively of Government Tompolo, a militant accused by the military of profiting from a lucrative trade in stolen oil.

Industry sources say it is virtually impossible to fully protect hundreds of kilometres of pipeline running through remote swamplands from guerrilla-style attacks and they expect such strikes to continue in the coming weeks. [ID:nLI6064]

One industry source said the military had deployed additional gunboats in Rivers state, whose capital Port Harcourt is the hub of the Nigerian energy sector, in case the militants began launching attacks on installations there.

Nigeria's installed crude oil production capacity is around 3 million bpd but continued insecurity, combined with funding problems at state oil firm NNPC, have meant the country is far from realising its full output potential.

Junior Finance Minister Remi Babalola said last week that Nigeria was pumping around 1.7 million bpd, although trade sources have said they expect oil exports to average 1.83 million bpd in June.

The discrepancy is partly due to differences in which production streams are classified as condensate.

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