THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Committee To Consider Demands Of Nigeria Oil Protesters: “Hundreds of protesting villagers from Kula community, including women and children, Sunday invaded two oil pumping facilities owned by Shell in the Ekulama oil fields” (ShellNews.net) 6 Dec 04

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

December 6, 2004

LAGOS (AP)--Nigerian oil protesters and officials of Royal Dutch/Shell (RD) and ChevronTexaco Corp. (CVX) have agreed to establish a committee to consider local villagers' demands for jobs and other benefits.

A spokesman for Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers where recent protests have stopped the production of 90,000 barrels of oil a day, Emmanuel Okah said the decision reached by the committee would determine when the protesters would leave the oil platforms.

Most of the protesters left the Shell facilities Monday, leaving behind about 20 people to ensure they were not reopened, a company spokesman said.

Hundreds of protesting villagers from Kula community, including women and children, Sunday invaded two oil pumping facilities owned by Shell in the Ekulama oil fields and another belonging to ChevronTexaco at Robert-Kiri island in the swamps of the Niger Delta, demanding to see top officials of both companies.

Shell pumps 70,000 barrels a day from the two stations, while ChevronTexaco pumps 20,000 b/d from its own station.

Oil operations in the restive Niger Delta are frequently disrupted by violence by aggrieved, impoverished communities that feel cheated out of the oil wealth pumped from their land. Nearly all of Nigeria's oil exports come from the delta.