Escravos siege ends, ChevronTexaco faces new blockades

U.S. oil giant ChevronTexaco was faced with fresh takeovers of its oil facilities by women protesters in Nigeria just as a 10-day siege of its Escravos export terminal came to an end on Wednesday. A company statement said four oil pumping facilities in the swamps of the western Niger Delta had been occupied by groups of women protesters, demanding jobs and amenities for their communities. The company said it had evacuated its employees from the affected facilities. “Negotiations towards a peaceful resolution of the invasion will begin soon,” the statement added. However, the women from the Ugborodo community, who had besieged the Escravos facility since 8 July, left on Wednesday after signing an agreement with the company that will guarantee them regular job offers and some amenities. In the words of Jay Pryor, managing director of ChevronTexaco Nigeria: “We are delighted that this crisis has been resolved peacefully, even though the process has been very painstaking.” Disruption of oil operations are common in the Niger Delta oil region, where impoverished local people accuse oil companies and their government partners of neglect despite the huge oil wealth pumped from their land. But while militant youths had been responsible for past disruptions, this is the first time such action was taken exclusively by women. The apparent success of the action by the ethnic minority Itsekiri women of Ugborodo, has spurred their Ijaw neighbours, who are responsible for the latest occupations, to quickly copy the action. The restiveness of communities in the Niger Delta, which had been dying down in the past two years, has been in resurgence since a Supreme Court ruling early this year that gave control of all offshore oil resources to the central government.