VILLAGERS in southern Nigeria's southern Rivers state have vacated two of the four oil-pumping stations they had occupied in a dispute with oil companies operating in the country's southern delta region.
Members of the local Kula community in Rivers invaded the stations in the last week of October demanding contracts from the operators, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron. Three of the stations (Ekulama I and II and Belema) are operated by Royal Dutch Shell while the fourth (Robertkiri) is operated by Chevron. The violence has reduced crude output by about 60,000 barrels per day. Nigerian oil industry had already been experiencing a slowdown since February 2006, following a wave of militant attacks. Such violences are common in the impoverished Niger delta, which accounts for all of the country's oil and gas production.
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