Clashes in the Niger Delta near oil terminal

Clashes at the weekend beween youths and security forces near Royal Dutch/Shell’s Forcados oil export terminal in southern Nigeri left up to 19 people dead, Reuters reported Nigerian newspapers as saying today. “About 19 people are feared dead while 10 others are said to be seriously injured,” the independent newspaper ‘National Concord’ reported. Local officials, who could only confirm five deaths, said troops exchanged fire with youths from the Ogulagha community, Reuters reported. They had gone to the terminal in Forcados, 250 km southeast of Lagos, to demand money and jobs. A senior Shell official in Lagos said workers had returned to the terminal on Monday after being pulled out over the weekend. He added that the oil terminal was operating normally and the next cargo export was scheduled for Tuesday. In recent months, oil production at the terminal has dropped from 400,000 barrels per day to 250,000 because of community disturbances in the Niger Delta region where the oil is pumped, Reuters added.