/ 6 April 1999

MOBIL PROTESTERS TARGET OIL FIRMS

NIGERIAN communities demanding compensation for a Mobil Corporation oil spill threatened on Sunday to halt the operations of other oil majors working in the Niger Delta. A statement from the group of 61 communities said Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, Agip and Texaco will be targeted this week to put pressure on Mobil to pay for damage which they allege was caused by a ruptured oil pipeline. The compensation claims follow a spill from Mobil’s Idoho offshore platform in January 1998, which affected some communities further west along Nigeria’s coast where Mobil itself has no operations. Mobil was swamped with claims for damages after the spill, which it set out to investigate fully before agreeing to pay compensation to villagers.