Oil giant curtails Nigerian production

The local communities are poor despite oil wealth

US oil giant ChevronTexaco says it will not be able to meet its production obligations in Nigeria after protests by local women and an unrelated fire at one of its plants.

Although it had insisted that the protests and the fire, which was caused by a lightning strike, would not affect it, the firm now says it has suspended production at its main Escravros export facility for a safety review.

This is a legitimate struggle that will be pursued to the end

Women's leader Mary Olaye

Negotiations were due to take place on Monday between Chevron and the unarmed women occupying at least four oil-pumping stations that feed the Escravos plant in southern Nigeria.

The protesters are demanding jobs for their relatives, water and electricity systems and other investments in their Niger Delta communities.

Recent protests

The most recent protests follow a similar confrontation at the multinational's Escravos export terminal last week, which normally produces as much as 400,000 barrels of oil a day.

And on Saturday, a lightning strike on an oil tank at the Excravos facility caused a fire that the protesters say has polluted the area.

Chevron says it hopes to resume exports from the facility in a few days.

Representatives for the protesters said at the weekend that they did not have high expectations for Monday's talks.

They had turned away a delegation last week because it was not made up of high-ranking executives.

"Is it right for them to even shun dialogue with us? This is a legitimate struggle that will be pursued to the end," a protest leader, Mary Olaye, told the French news agency, AFP.

"We have not seen any senior Chevron staff since Tuesday. They are not even ready to negotiate with us. We asked that their managing director should see us, but he has not," Ms Olaye said.

The women started their protest last Tuesday at a pumping station in Abiteye that feeds the Escravos facility, just as another group of women protesters ended another 10-day long occupation after reaching a deal with Chevron.

After negotiations with those protesters - who had trapped hundreds of workers at the plant - the company agreed to build schools, clinics, and electricity and water systems to end the siege.

This is the latest in a number of occupations of oil facilities by the local community

Refused to meet

The fire at Escravos started on Saturday as workers were trying to restart normal production at the plant after the occupation.

Chevron had to pump about 80,000 barrels of oil out of the tank that caught on fire after the lightning strike, and oil workers used remote-controlled chemical cannons to contain the blaze, which is now said to be out.

But the protesters said the fire had caused a leak that had contaminated their communities.

"The discovery of oil in our communities has brought misery and sorrow. Our rivers are polluted and fishes dead because of the poisons being spilled into the environment," Ms Olaye said.

An AFP reporter in the region said he saw large quantities of crude oil drifting in a river flowing away from Escravos and into fishing waters.