THE WALL STREET JOURNAL/DOW JONES NEWSWIRES: Shell : Nigerian Govt, Rebel Deal Calms Region For Oil Ops: “The recently appointed managing director of Royal Dutch/Shell Group's (RD, SC) Nigerian unit, Basil Omiyi, said last week's peace deal between the government and rebels in the Niger Delta will allow for stable oil operations.” (ShellNews.net)

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

October 5, 2004 6:34 a.m.

LAGOS -- The recently appointed managing director of Royal Dutch/Shell Group's (RD, SC) Nigerian unit, Basil Omiyi, said last week's peace deal between the government and rebels in the Niger Delta will allow for stable oil operations.

"There will be a stable atmosphere for oil companies to carry out their activities," Basil Omiyi said late Monday.

The Nigerian government and militant leader Moujahid Dokubo-Asari signed a peace deal last week, the fighting between government troops and Dokubo-Asari's Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force.

Before the deal was struck, Dokubo-Asari had ordered all foreign workers to leave the Niger Delta before Oct. 1, or risk being killed.

Omiyi spoke Monday night at a dinner organized in his honor by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Petroleum and Energy, Edmund Dakouro.

Omiyi, the first Nigerian head of any multinational oil company's operations in Nigeria, took over as head of Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria, or SPDC, last month.

Omiyi said he was happy with the level of cooperation between the oil companies in various areas, including the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas company on Bonny Island.

NLNG Ltd. is a joint venture whose shareholders are the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNP.YY) with 49%, Shell with 25.6%, Total SA (TOT) with 15% and Eni SpA (E), which holds 10.4%.

Daukoru asked the SPDC boss to hire more local people and boost training in the oil industry.

He said domestic companies should also be given opportunity to work on marginal fields so that oil reserves in such fields would not continue to lie dormant.

The government awarded 24 such smaller fields to about 31 Nigerian firms last year, which are currently at different stages of development

Also speaking at the event, Funsho Kupolokun, group managing director of the NNPC, said other multinational oil companies operating in Nigeria should emulate Shell by appointing Nigerians to head their local units.

Company Web site: http://www.shell.com/nigeria

-By Vincent Nwanma; Dow Jones Newswires; +234-1-585-0849; vinwanma@beta.linkserve.com