THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Shell: Nigeria Community Talks Ongoing; Oil Still Shut In: “Nigerian government officials and Kula community leaders continue talks to end an impasse that forced oil companies to shut in about 120,000 barrels a day of crude oil production, a spokesman for Royal Dutch/Shell Group's (RD, SC) Nigerian unit said Wednesday.” (ShellNews.net) Posted 16 Dec 04

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

LAGOS -- Nigerian government officials and Kula community leaders continue talks to end an impasse that forced oil companies to shut in about 120,000 barrels a day of crude oil production, a spokesman for Royal Dutch/Shell Group's (RD, SC) Nigerian unit said Wednesday.

"We are waiting for the outcome of consultations between the Rivers State government and representatives of the community," a spokesman for Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria told Dow Jones Newswires.

Hundreds of Kula villagers including women and children seized platforms in Nigeria's oil-rich southern swamps of the Niger Delta two weeks ago.

The protesters occupied Shell 's Ekulama 1 and 2 flow stations - forcing the shutting in of 70,000 b/d - and another flow station with 30,000 b/d output. They also occupied a ChevronTexaco Corp. (CVX) facility which accounts for 20,000 b/d output.

Villagers were protesting what they said was a lack of local benefits from more than four decades of oil development around their impoverished community, Kula.

Nigeria, with 2.5 million b/d output, is Africa's leading oil exporter, the world's seventh largest exporter and the fifth biggest source of U.S. oil imports.

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