Believe it or not, not all stories about oil these days are in areas where the U.S. has troops. Chevron is being sued by a group of villagers in Nigeria who claim that the oil company is behind an attack on two of their villages in January 1999 which killed several villagers and burned the villages to the ground. For years Chevron has denied the claims.

Hard to prove you say? Yeah, about that. A new document has been found that shows a receipt for the attacks with the description: “Services carried out by Capt. [redacted] and 22 Soldiers whom left from Escravos/Madangho to [illegible] attacks from Opia village”. Way to go Chevron.

It seems that the villagers showed up at the Escravos Chevron facility near their villages on January 4, 1999, complaining about their drinking water and fishing supply being harmed by the oil production. Soldiers fired warning shots and told them not to return. Later that day, the villages were attacked and burned to the ground. Earthrights International is representing the villagers in their suit, which is scheduled to go to trial in the fall of 2006.

Note to multi-national oil corporations: when funding human rights abuse in Nigeria, go easy on the detailed receipts.

Thanks to the Montgomery County, MD Green Party blog for this story.