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Italian oil firm announces release of six employees in Nigeria
LAGOS
Petroleumworld.com 10 31 07A Nigerian group that last week kidnapped six foreign workers with the oil company Agip has released them unharmed, parent company ENI announced on its website Tuesday.
The hostages, of Polish and Indian nationality, were in good health, said the statement from the Italian group.
The group was captured in a raid early last Friday on the FPSO Mystras oil platform, 85 kilometres (52 miles) off the south Nigeria coast when gunmen in speedboats intercepted a supply boat, said the statement.
The Nigerian police also confirmed the release. It said security forces had not been involved in their release.
"The workers must have been released to their employers directly. The police and SSS (State-Security Service) were not involved," Rivers state police commissioner Felix Ogbaudu told AFP.
Ogbaudu said he hoped ransom money had not been paid out to the hostage-takers.
"We always advise oil companies not to pay ransom to militants if they sincerely want to put an end to their nefarious and criminal actitivies," he said.
On Monday, the region's most vocal separatist group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), claimed responsibility for the abduction.
MEND says it is campaigning for a greater say locally in what happens to the resources in the Niger delta region.
In the 18 months to June more than 200 foreigners, mostly oil workers, have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta region by a mixture of criminal gangs and militants calling for a fairer distribution of oil revenues.
Most have ended up being released unharmed.
Draconian security measures put in place by companies have reduced the abductions in recent months.
Story from AFP 30 1025 GMT 10 07
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