(Adds details, background)

LAGOS, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Three gunmen in Nigeria died and at least four were injured in a gunfight with soldiers guarding an oil flow station in the restive Niger Delta, a military spokesman said on Friday.

Lieutenant Colonel Rabe Abubakar of the joint military taskforce in the western Niger Delta said the attack did not cause any damage to the Tebidaba oil flow station operated by Italy's Agip <ENI.MI> in Bayelsa state.

"In the ensuing battle, three militants were confirmed killed and four injured militants were captured, and no damage to the oil facilities," he said.

The flow station and its pipelines, which ship crude oil to the Brass River export terminal, have been attacked several times in the past few years.

Residents blew up one of the Tebidaba-Brass River pipelines in July, briefly causing the loss of 47,000 barrels a day of output.

Violence in the Niger Delta, home to Africa's largest oil and gas industry, has cut Nigeria's output by a fifth in the last three years. (Reporting by Randy Fabi)

AlertNet news is provided by