"I told the communities to open Agbada-2 and they have just done that now, because Shell is now ready to seriously negotiate," Azibaola Robert, the lawyer representing the protesters, told Reuters.

Shell fully restored its production from the area after the siege was lifted, and a company spokesman confirmed that talks were due to start on Monday.

The protest began last Tuesday after talks broke down over the level of compensation due to five communities near the Rivers state capital Port Harcourt. The communities had demanded $5 million for the spill, which sparked a fire on agricultural land nearby, but Shell offered just $900 to the two worst affected villages.

Shell, Nigeria's largest oil producer, accounts for one million bpd of the OPEC member's 2.5 million total.

Oil operations are frequently disrupted by protests in the Niger Delta region, where impoverished villagers feel they should get a greater share of the wealth being extracted from their tribal lands.

Kidnapping, extortion and armed attacks are frequent in the vast wetlands region, and hundreds die every year from ethnic and communal disputes related to oil money and political power.

Foreign oil companies argue that the government should invest more of its tax money in providing basic services such as schooling, healthcare and electricity to the neglected region.

Almost half of Nigeria's government spending is lost to waste and corruption, according to Nigerian law enforcement officials.

About 100,000 bpd of Nigerian oil is stolen from pipelines across the delta by local gangs working with international criminal syndicates in collusion with highly-placed Nigerian officials.