The Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell resumed production at an oilfield in southern Nigeria that was shut down last week because of a community protest over a spill that polluted local farmland, a Shell spokesperson said on Monday.
The announcement will come as a small relief to nervous oil markets monitoring unrest in Iraq and Ecuador and watching prices hovering close to record levels.
”The Agbada 1 flow station reopened yesterday [Sunday] to allow for further talks with the community. We have resumed the production of some 15 000 barrels per day of crude oil that was shut in during the protests,” the spokesperson said.
Local people surrounded the Agbada 1 flow station in the oil-rich but troubled Niger Delta on August 16, demanding greater compensation for an oil spill which soiled their fields and fishing grounds two years ago.
Royal Dutch Shell is Nigeria’s largest foreign oil operator, accounting for almost half of the West African country’s daily exports of 2,5-million barrels.
Oil multinationals operating in the swamps of the Niger Delta are regularly targetted by communities demanding jobs, compensation and amenities. – Sapa-AFP