Protesting villagers have forced the Nigerian subsidiary of Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Cos. to cut oil output in the volatile Niger Delta, hampering efforts by the Anglo-Dutch oil company to recover from earlier protests last month, a company spokesman said Thursday.The latest protest has shut off 8,000 barrels per day of oil since Jan. 7. It follows a string of oil platform invasions by hundreds of villagers in December in the Niger Delta, where poverty-stricken residents complain they are not benefiting from the riches pumped from their soil. Nigeria is Africa’s top oil exporter, and the fifth largest supplier of oil to the United States.Full Story