LAGOS Nigeria AP Shell Oil has shut down sections of a key crude oil pipeline in southern Nigeria after workers trying to seal a leak were attacked by stone-throwing villagers company officials said Tuesday. Officials believe the leak was the result of sabotage. Five flow stations have been closed between oil wells and an export terminal in the coastal town of Bonny in the oil-rich southwestern Niger River delta a company spokesman said on condition of anonymity. The leak was discovered on Friday and several efforts to seal it were thwarted by village youths who attacked Shell technicians with rocks the spokesman said. It was not revealed where the leak occurred or how it was caused although Shell says it believes it was the result of sabotage. The shutdown cuts Shell's crude oil output in Nigeria the world's sixth largest oil producer by about 145000 barrels a day. Nigeria suffers hundreds of offshore and underground pipeline spills every year. Many are the result of sabotage by villagers who demand that the government or companies pay monetary compensation for the resulting environmental damage. Others are caused by scavengers who collect the spilled oil to use and resell. In October an explosion and fire killed at least 700 people in the southern town of Jesse where poor residents were collecting gasoline spilling from a government-owned pipeline. Government officials said they believe scavengers' tools set off the blast. Some spills allegedly occur due to the neglect of international oil companies and the Nigerian government which owns many pipelines. Village youths disrupted Shell's production in the Niger delta for several weeks in August during a campaign to protest lack of essential services provided by the military government which receives oil revenue from multinational companies. A U.N. human rights envoy on Monday reportedly called for an independent inquiry into claims that international oil companies have caused widespread environmental damage in Nigeria. There has been no reaction by the government or oil companies to the call. fa-gam/ids APW19981201.0343.txt.body.html APW19981201.1436.txt.body.html