Nigerian Militants Block Oil Output

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) – Hundreds of unarmed Nigerian villagers, including women and children, seized three oil platforms operated by multinational oil companies on Sunday, shutting 90,000 barrels per day of production in a dispute over jobs.

Members of the Kula community in the southeastern Rivers state occupied the platforms, operated by Royal Dutch Shell Group(RD.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) (SHEL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and ChevronTexaco(CXV.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , without causing any injuries and had yet to make any demands, company spokesmen said.

“Youths from the Kula community attacked some of our facilities today and forcefully shut them down,” a Shell spokesman said, adding that it had shut 70,000 barrels per day, or bpd, at the Ekulama I and II flow stations.

“Reports indicate that there were 300 people, including men women and children,” a ChevronTexaco spokesman added.

The U.S.-based company shut 20,000 bpd at Robertkiri.

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