NEW YORK TIMES: Protesters End Siege of Nigerian Platforms: “Hundreds of protesters ended their three-day siege of oil platforms in the oil-rich Niger Delta on Tuesday, paddling away in canoes and boats after Royal Dutch-Shell Cos. and ChevronTexaco Corp. agreed to talks”: “Villagers were protesting what they said was a lack of local benefits from more than four decades of oil drilling around their impoverished community” (ShellNews.net) Posted 8 Dec 04

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- Hundreds of protesters ended their three-day siege of oil platforms in the oil-rich Niger Delta on Tuesday, paddling away in canoes and boats after Royal Dutch-Shell Cos. and ChevronTexaco Corp. agreed to talks.

It was not clear when operations would fully resume. The protests shut down production of 120,000 barrels a day.

Hundreds of villagers, including women and children, began protesting Sunday and overran two pumping stations owned by Shell in the Ekulama oil fields and another run by ChevronTexaco in the delta's southeastern swamps.

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

The companies, government and representatives of the villagers agreed to hold talks Wednesday on community demands.

Spokesmen for the two oil giants confirmed all protesters had left the platforms.

Shell said it had been forced to close down 100,000 barrels a day in production. The amount lost daily had increased from 70,000 barrels overnight, after protesters had blocked maintenance crews from reaching one platform.

A Shell spokesman said the company would not restart production until the talks had concluded.

The protest also shut down production of 20,000 barrels a day for ChevronTexaco. The company will determine by Wednesday when it can resume production, spokesman Deji Haastrup said.

Oil operations in the restive Niger Delta are frequently disrupted by protests -- some violent -- on the part of aggrieved, impoverished communities that feel cheated out of the oil wealth pumped from their land.

The region pumps nearly all of Nigeria's 2.5 million barrels of daily exports.

Africa's leading oil producer is the world's seventh-largest exporter and the fifth-leading source of U.S. oil imports.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Nigeria-Oil-Protest.html