Six protesters shot dead at Nigerian ChevronTexaco oil terminal

international | worker & community struggles and protests | other press

Saturday February 05, 2005 13:53

by redjade

McDowell still says Nigeria is a safe happy democratic country

''ChevronTexaco operates the terminal on behalf of a joint venture with state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. The government classifies oil export terminals as assets vital to national economic security and they are protected by soldiers under instructions to shoot invaders.''

Nigerian security forces shot dead six protesters on Friday at an oil export terminal operated by U.S. energy giant ChevronTexaco, a community leader said.

Hundreds of villagers from the Ugborodo community stormed the Escravos terminal near the oil city of Warri early on Friday and broke into the compound to protest against the lack of development in their village and to demand contracts and jobs.

"It was a peaceful protest, but instead of talking to us they sent the military to shoot us. About six of our people have been shot dead and about 10 critically wounded," Austin Ajurenmisan told Reuters by telephone from Escravos.

ChevronTexaco said it could not confirm the death toll from the fighting at the 300,000 barrel per day terminal, but said its production and exports from the world's eighth largest exporter were not affected.

http://www.reuters.co.za/locales/c_newsArticle.jsp;:42037034:b299b253a7344275?type=topNews&localeKey=en_ZA&storyID=7540176

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Oil is the Prize

Sat Feb 05, 2005 13:57

A ChevronTexaco-led consortium has signed a contract to hunt for oil in the deep waters off Nigeria and the tiny island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe.

In what could herald the first drilling in one of the world's hottest new oil prospects, ChevronTexaco and partners Exxon Mobil Corp. and Norway's Dangote Energy Equity Resources have signed a production sharing contract with the Nigeria-São Tomé and Príncipe Joint Development Authority, which controls exploration in the waters between the countries.

The oil industry's interest in this area reflects the world's ever-greater thirst for West African crude. West Africa already is a major supplier for the United States' energy needs and represents a critical alternative to Middle Eastern oil supplies.

[....]

As much as 11 billion barrels of crude have been estimated to lie beneath the waters there, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, although 4 billion barrels may be a more realistic figure.

Last April, ChevronTexaco won the rights to explore for oil in Block 1 in a licensing round, with a bid of $123 million.

The block is about 190 miles north of the city of São Tomé in waters more than a mile deep.

Report: Rivers and Blood: Guns, Oil and Power in Nigeria’s Rivers State

Sat Feb 05, 2005 14:19

Nigeria: Fight for Oil Wealth Fuels Violence in Delta

http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2005/02/03/nigeri10114.htm

In the oil-rich Niger Delta, the struggle among local leaders for oil revenue and government funds has fueled violent clashes between rival armed groups, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. An escalation in violence last year killed dozens of innocent people and disrupted oil production, pushing global crude futures over a record $50 a barrel.

The 22-page report, “Rivers and Blood: Guns, Oil and Power in Nigeria’s Rivers State,” based on a December fact-finding mission to the region, documents fighting between armed groups in the southeastern oil-producing state that escalated in late 2003 and continued throughout 2004. The clashes resulted in the indiscriminate killing of local people, displaced tens of thousands of villagers from their homes, and forced the oil industry to evacuate staff and scale back its production.

-- -- --

The Report:
Rivers and Blood: Guns, Oil and Power in Nigeria’s Rivers State
http://hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/nigeria0205/

PDF Format
http://hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/nigeria0205/nigeria0205.pdf

Also in Nigeria: Halliburton admits it may have paid bribes

Sat Feb 05, 2005 16:23

Nigeria: Halliburton admits it may have paid bribes
http://mostlyafrica.blogspot.com/2004/11/nigeria-halliburton-admits-it-may-have.html

"We understand from the ongoing governmental and other investigations that payments may have been made to Nigerian officials," [Halliburton ...] said in a quarterly filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

[...]

The Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, a French magistrate and Nigerian officials are investigating whether the consortium paid $180 million in bribes to Nigerian officials from 1995 through 2002. The consortium got other contracts involving the Nigerian plant in 1999 and 2002.

Contradiction

by Imc

Sat Feb 05, 2005 20:21

(Hundreds of villagers from the Ugborodo community stormed the Escravos terminal near the oil city of Warri early on Friday and broke into the compound to protest against the lack of development in their village and to demand contracts and jobs.

"It was a peaceful protest)

Anyone else spot the contradiction?

I dont think I would want to be within a thousand miles of a multi-million - highly inflamable petro-chemical facility that had just been "broken into" or "stormed" for any reason.

.

Reading on

by imc

Sat Feb 05, 2005 21:50

Reading on (same article):

(The area around Warri is even more volatile because two rival ethnic groups compete for the oil wealth, which has led to bloody ethnic clashes in the past.

(Ethnic violence in March 2003 forced oil multinationals to evacuate facilities in the western delta around Warri, closing nearly 40 percent of the nation's output.

Chevron, Nigeria's third biggest operator, has yet to restart 140,000 bpd closed during that violence.

The company said last week it may take another 2-3 years to recover because of serious damage to oil wells and pipelines caused by sabotage and looting. )

Rival ethnic groups??????

This neck of the woods - we tend to use the term - "racism" to sum up such malcontent.

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Six protesters shot dead at Nigerian ChevronTexaco oil terminal

Comments (5 of 5)