Daily Telegraph (UK): Shell resumes pumping after settling in Nigeria: “Shell has resolved a dispute with Nigerian villagers which cost the energy company 100,000 barrels a day in lost oil exports.” (ShellNews.net) 5 Jan 05

By Aaron Patrick (Filed: 05/01/2005)

Shell has resolved a dispute with Nigerian villagers which cost the energy company 100,000 barrels a day in lost oil exports. 

Unarmed protesters from the Niger Delta village of Kula occupied two pumping stations owned by Shell in December, complaining about underinvestment in the area.

About 100 employees were briefly trapped inside when what were described as "militant youths" from the fishing community seized the plants.

The disruption, which also affected a ChevronTexaco pumping station, is typical of conflict in the region which produces most of Nigeria's 2.3m barrels a day of oil.

The raid led to Shell declaring force majeure on December 22, meaning that it could not meet supply contracts due to factors outside its control. Production is expected to resume today.

Oil prices fell in London trading. Brent crude for February delivery fell 35 cents to $40.11 a barrel, down from a record $51.94 in late October.

Traders partly attributed this to Saudi Arabia's decision to cut production by 500,000 barrels a day from January 1.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/01/05/cnshell05.xml

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