Oil multinationals Shell and Chevron have this week been forced to shut down around 60,000 barrels per day of oil production after a community dispute in NigeriaÂ’s turbulent oil producing delta region.Villagers earlier this week raided four oil pumping stations in the eastern delta region in an apparent dispute between villagers and the multinationals over community development projects and supply contracts. Shell sources said the villagers were on Thursday set to leave the Ekulama I and II and Belema flow stations as the dispute was close to being resolved and insisted the raid was not due to militant action.
Shell company sources said the incident would halt over 40,000 barrels per day of their production. A Chevron official said they had also shut down a nearby station, which normally pumps around 15,000 bpd. Both companies were unable to say for sure how long the disruption would last.
The shut down adds to around 500,000 bpd lost due to militant attacks in the western delta in the worldÂ’s eighth largest oil exporter early this year. A spike in militant activity in the delta, including around the Ekulama area, this month forced Shell to shut in a further 21,000 bpd.
While such disputes are frequent in the delta, security analysts say that some communities are turning towards armed groups who can act as hired guns to intervene in community disputes. Experts say the flow of weapons into the delta is increasing at an unprecedented rate, largely funded through the sale of illegally shipped crude oil.