Shell shuts Nigeria oil flow-station due to protest

The Anglo-Dutch giant said it had shut down the Otumara-Escravos flow-station in Delta state because of the demonstration but was in talks with the local community and the state government to try to end the stand-off.

It did not say whether production was affected.

"Dialogue with the women, their community and representatives of the Delta state government continue with a view to resolving the issue," Shell spokesman Tony Okonedo said.

Many remote communities in the Niger Delta, a vast network of mangrove creeks, remain impoverished despite five decades of oil extraction, which have left their land and water polluted.

Such protests are not uncommon.

Royalty payments from oil firms and the sharing of federal oil revenues mean state governments in the Niger Delta have larger budgets than many West African nations, but endemic corruption has meant that little development has been achieved.

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(Reporting by Nick Tattersall, editing by Jane Baird)