AFX News Limited: Nigerian protesters occupy Shell oil pumping station, gas plant : Thursday 7 July 2005

LAGOS (AFX) - Protesters briefly shut down an oil pumping station and nearby gas plant, Royal Dutch/Shell said, underlining the risks to production in the Niger Delta as world oil prices surged to record new highs.

Officials of the Anglo-Dutch oil giant said youths from the village of Bille drove workers away from the Awoba oil flowstation and a gas plant in mangrove swamps 35 kilometres southeast of Port Harcourt yesterday.

Shell spokesman Simon Buerk said that the protesters later left the area and were now in discussions with the company about their community's grievances.

'It re-opened this morning,' he said. Shell could not confirm how much production had been lost during the occupation, but a company official in Lagos said: 'It's not so much that you need to worry about it.'

Shell has not reported any injuries to its staff and was unable to say whether Nigerian security forces intervened during the incident.

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http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2005/07/07/afx2127551.html

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