FROM OUR AUGUST 2004 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE…
The New York Times: Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry Reeling
In unrest comparable in scale to Chechnya and Colombia, a year of bloodletting has killed more than 1,000 in the oil-rich Niger Delta…: A confidential 93-page security report commissioned by Shell in December 2003 and obtained by The Associated Press and other news organizations warns that mounting attacks by criminals and ethnic militants could force the oil giant to abandon its onshore operations in the delta by 2008.: The report’s authors made other serious conclusions: that Shell “exacerbates conflict” in the way it gives cash and contracts to delta residents…
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 9, 2004
OMADINO, Nigeria (AP) — In unrest comparable in scale to Chechnya and Colombia, a year of bloodletting has killed more than 1,000 in the oil-rich Niger Delta — leaving the world’s No. 7 oil exporter, and people here, concerned for the future.
Tensions over oil revenues have aggravated ethnic strife. Kidnappings and sabotage have escalated, forcing costly shutdowns by companies pumping crude in the oil-rich swamps of the volatile Niger Delta.