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Protests hit Chevron's Nigerian production
18/07/2002 16:08 - (SA)
Lagos - Oil major Chevrontexaco said on Thursday the protests by a group of women at four of its flow stations in southern Nigeria had cut crude production by 110 000 barrels per day but export obligations for July would be met.
"110 000 barrels per day have been shut at the four flowstations," Sola Omole, Chevron Nigeria's General Manager, Government and Public Affairs told Reuters.
Chevron Nigeria production in 2001 averaged 450 000 barrels per day, including condensate and natural gas liquids.
Omole said the company would meet its export obligations for July despite the blockades.
"Chevron is able to meet its export obligations for the month," he said. The four pipelines are located in the swamps of the western Niger Delta, not far from Chevron's Escravos 340,000-barrels-per-day export terminal, where a 10-day siege by another group of women ended on Wednesday.
Takeovers of oil sites are frequent in Nigeria, with militants from local communities in the oil-rich Niger Delta region often disrupting production or taking workers hostage.
The protesters, who like a majority of Nigerians, often live on less than $1 a day despite their country's crude wealth, demand a fairer share of the oil wealth for their communities.
Omole said negotiations with the women protesters would begin soon to end the blockade quickly.
Nigeria is the world's sixth biggest crude producer and is a member of Opec.
Chevron said the blockade at the pipelines started on Tuesday. However, it said the firm had decided to close the flow stations in the aftermath of the Escravos blockade, fearing new attacks.
"The flowstations were shut down before the invasion by the... women as a fallout of the Escravos siege," Omole said, without giving a precise date.
On Wednesday, Chevron said it had reached a deal to end the siege at Escravos and would provide jobs for local residents as well as schools, town halls, electricity and drinkable water.
The women who occupied Escravos are mainly from the Itsekiri ethnic group while those who invaded the flow stations belong to the rival Ijaw tribe. The two groups have clashed over the setting up of local government headquarters in the past.
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