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Nigerian armed youths free remaining Shell hostages
By Joel Olatunde Agoi
AFP
YENAGOA, Nigeria
Petroleumworld.com 10 13 06
Armed youths freed late Wednesday the last 15 of 60 Nigerian employees of the Shell oil company and its subcontractors taken hostage when they seized a pumping station, officials said.
"All remaining hostages have been released tonight after intensive negotiations. No one was hurt, no ransom was paid," said Welson Ekiyor, a spokesman for regional governor.A Shell spokesman confirmed the release.
"We are happy that the issue has been resolved. The workers have been freed. We thank the Bayelsa State government for their efforts," he said.
Dozens of armed youths took over the Shell flow station on the Nun river on Tuesday, protesting the Anglo-Dutch oil giant's failure to implement an agreement to provide jobs and amenities in the native Oporoma community, and took 60 workers hostage.
They released 45 of the hostages later on Tuesday while negotiators from the regional government pressed for the release of others.
The seizure of the facility forced the Anglo-Dutch oil giant to shut in 12,000 barrels of crude, further cutting the company's output which was already down by 477,000 barrels since January.
The Shell spokesman did not say whether operations had resumed at the facility.
Shell and other major oil firms have been forced to close down dozens of oil wells and rigs because of unrest in the volatile southern Niger delta.
Despite being home to Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar oil and gas resources, the majority of the inhabitants of the Niger delta live on less than one dollar a day.
Violence has erupted as separatist agitators seeking a greater share of region's oil wealth took up arms against the government and attacked oil installations and personnel.
Around 60 Nigerian security personnel have been killed while dozens of foreign and local oil workers kidnapped in the past nine months.
Most of the kidnapped workers have been released after spending days or even months in captivity. Oil companies usually pay ransom money to secure the release of their workers, but they do not publicly admit to be doing so.
Seven expatriate oil workers abducted last week in Rivers State were still being held Thursday.
Several militant groups have claimed responsibility for the spates of kidnappings and killings in the region in the past months.
The most prominent among them is the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which has vowed to continue its attacks on the oil industry unless government allows the 14-million-strong ethnic Ijaw people of the region to control their oil resources.
Last week, MEND claimed that it had sent 500 fighters to the restive region to counter attacks by Nigerian security forces. Some 14 soldiers were killed in clashes with group last week.
The unrest in the Niger delta has reduced Nigeria's oil exports by a quarter since January when the militants renewed their attacks.
Nigeria is Africa's biggest producer and the fifth largest exporter of crude in the world.
Shell, a major oil operator accounts for around half of Nigeria's total oil exports.
AFP 12 0059 GMT 10 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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