/ 23 June 1999

TEXACO SUSPENDS NIGERIAN PRODUCTION

UNITED States oil giant Texaco has suspended production activities in Nigeria’s Niger delta region after an attack by armed youths demanding compensation for an oil spill, a company official said on Tuesday. “We have suspended scheduled loadings for the week,” the official, who did not want to be named, blaming the decision on the attack by the youths from Bayelsa State in the oil-rich Niger delta region on Friday. He said the company has shut down six offshore production platforms with a collective daily production of 50000 barrels as a result of the attack. Youths in the troubled region in the southeast of the country regularly attack oil facilities to press demands for jobs, compensation and amenities.