Shell has no plans to pull out from the oil-rich African country, despite the continued turmoil in Nigeria that has severely affected oil production there, , Dutch paper Financial Dagblad reported Wednesday.

"Shell has been operating for 70 years in Nigeria," said Shell Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer after Tuesday's annual general meeting of shareholders in Scheveningen, the Netherlands.

Despite the fact that the Nigerian government skims-off 95 percent of the profits for the oil production on land, Shell wants to greatly expand production, including oil production at sea, he said.

"The world simply needs the energy from Nigeria," said van der Veer.

Former Dutch prime minister Wim Kok visited Nigeria at the end of March as a member of the supervisory board of Shell to review the impact of the unrest there on oil production.

"I was deeply affected by what I saw there," Kok told Shell's shareholders. Shell is the largest foreign oil producer in Nigeria.

In recent years, armed gangs have carried out attacks on oil installations, kidnapped oil industry employees and regularly sabotaged pipelines to tap oil.

"Everyday there is sabotage and oil leaks," he said, describing the conditions as "extremely difficult."

Dozens of people were killed last year in the attacks and part of the oil production is at a standstill. An estimated daily oil production capacity of 477,000 barrels are squandered in the country, of which Shell's share is 188,000 barrels.

Kok noted that the local population has voiced complaints questioning the government's incompetence in tackling the nation's poverty issues while it is earning so much revenue from oil.

Bassil Omiyi, director of Shell Nigeria, said he was " optimistic" about the future despite the fact that the violence has continued since the presidential elections at the end of April.

The new president Umaru Yar' Adua will be better able to resolve the social disruption in the Niger Delta than his predecessor, Omiyi said.