Opening arguments began earlier this week over the 1998 incident in which delta residents occupied an off-shore oil platform in protest against Chevron's economic and environmental impact on the region.

Two people were killed in the melee, according to local reports at the time, by the Nigerian military that Chevron allegedly transported to the platform to break up the protests that were hampering production at the facility.

Representing the villagers in the case, which is being tried in a San Francisco court, is lawyer Dan Stormer, who told the jury in his opening remarks that "Chevron paid, housed, fed, transported and supervised the military and police," the Los Angeles Times reported earlier this week.

Chevron attorneys countered that it was the company's right to protect its employees and call on local authorities, as the protesters had taken several employees hostage. Lawyers for the plaintiffs and protest leaders countered that the demonstration on the oil platform was peaceful and that Nigerian troops used excessive force.

The case is being tried in the United States under the infrequently used Alien Tort Claims Act. Dating back to 1789, the act provides that foreigners can sue a U.S. company or other American entity in a U.S. court for human rights violations committed in a foreign country.

Chevron operations in Nigeria have been at the center of other controversies over the years, including several attacks on its operation in the delta.

In June, the company declared a force majeure on its oil exports following a particularly destructive attack on one of its installations by Nigerian militants in the delta. Though Chevron claimed at the time that production was not stymied by the attack, Nigerian energy officials estimated the assault cost the U.S. company about 100,000 barrels a day in production.

Production in the delta has dropped considerably in recent years due to a steady increase in militant attacks on oil installations since 2005.

Nigeria's decline in oil production has been blamed predominantly on militant groups like the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. The delta is home to the vast majority of Nigeria's oil production; however, its residents remain mired in abject poverty.

The country that once dominated oil production in Africa has pumped more than $300 billion worth of crude over the last three decades from the southern delta states, according to estimates.

Nigeria's high unemployment in the delta, environmental degradation due to oil and gas extraction, and a lack of basic resources such as fresh water and electricity have angered the region's youth, who have taken up arms, many times supplied by political leaders, and formed militant groups and local gangs.

Grievances with oil companies operating in the delta also has given rise to labor strife among U.S. and other foreign oil companies operating in the delta, including Chevron, said Rolake Akinola, a senior analyst for West Africa at the London-based consulting firm Control Risks.

Earlier this year Nigeria's largest petroleum workers' union called for the removal of Chevron's managing director, citing allegedly unsafe work conditions and other grievances against the third-largest energy firm in the West African country.

"These kind of strike threats are a sort of trend (in the Niger Delta)," Akinola told United Press International. "That's the cycle we've seen in the oil industry."

Strikes, coupled with attacks on oil installations, have severely hampered production over the last few years, reducing output once estimated at 2.5 million bpd by more than 20 percent.

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