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Shell says 60 oil workers kidnapped in Niger Delta, flow station shut
AP Photo/Sunday Alamba
A young boy eats outside alongside the remains of destroyed houses, in the Aker Base community on the outskirts in Port Harcourt, Nigeria Friday, Oct. 6, 2006, after the Nigerian military burned down the village in August in retaliation for the kidnapping of an oil worker. Most of the delta's people don't have access to clean drinking water or regular sources of electricity. In the absence of government aid, they turn to oil companies as surrogate providers. But company-sponsored development projects also often fail, due to corrupt contractors or broken promises, leaving communities bitter.By Joel Olatunde Agoi
AFP
LAGOS
Petroleumworld.com 10 11 06Armed youths in Nigeria's restive Niger Delta seized a flow station run by oil company Shell and took 60 workers hostage on Tuesday, causing a production loss of some 12,000 barrels of oil per day, the company said.
"After firing some warning shots, the attackers took hold of the security post, where they are holding some 60 SPDC (Shell Petroleum Development Company) and contractor staff," the Anglo-Dutch oil firm said in a statement sent to AFP.
Shell blamed armed youths from the Oporoma community in Bayelsa State, at the mouth of the delta, for the attack on its field logistics base and the adjoining Nun river flow station.
It said the flow station had been closed down as a result of the incident.
"The Nun river flow station has been shut, resulting in production loss of some 12,000 barrels of oil per day," it added.
It said there were no casualities but the state government had sent officials to negotiate with the attackers.
Shell did not disclose the identities of the kidnapped workers.
A Nigerian Navy spokesman confirmed the seizure of the Shell flow station and the oil workers.
But he denied a media report that naval troops had been caught up in the incident.
Local television station Channels had reported earlier on Tuesday that the militants had "overrun" a naval post in the area and seized several soldiers stationed near the flow station.
"From information I have received, I think it is a communal problem. The community has a misunderstanding with Shell over the implementation of an accord between them," navy captain Obiora Medani told AFP by telephone.
"The government has intervened in the matter to secure the release of those being held hostage," he added.
Communities living in the oil-rich delta often accuse foreign oil companies of reneging on promises to provide jobs and social amenities.
Tensions have flared in recent months in the Niger Delta, which is home to Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar oil and gas industry but whose inhabitants live on an average of less than one dollar a day.
Separatist fighters -- as well as organised criminals -- have taken up arms against the government and the oil industry, killing scores of security officers and abducting dozens of oil workers since the beginning of this year.
Security concerns have forced Shell to close dozens of oil wells and rigs and evacuate workers from the volatile region in the past nine months.
Shell, which accounts for around half of Nigeria's total crude exports, is currently losing some 477,000 barrels per day a a result of the unrest in the delta.
Earlier on Tuesday a Shell spokesman told AFP production of 18,000 barrels of crude had resumed at its Cawthorne Channel in the eastern Niger Delta but that some 9,000 barrels were still blocked at the Ekulama 1 flow station.
Nigeria, a nation of 130 million people, is Africa's leading oil producer and the world's sixth biggest crude exporter.
Its normal daily output is 2.6 million barrels per day. But attacks on oil installations in the region have reduced this output by about a quarter since the start of the year.
Niger Delta oil production accounts for 95 percent of the country's foreign currency revenues.
More than 30 oil workers have been kidnapped this month alone and 14 soldiers have reportedly been killed.
Twenty-five of those kidnapped one week ago have been released but the whereabouts of seven expat workers remains unknown.
No group has claimed the abduction of the seven foreigners -- four Scots, a Malaysian, an Indonesian and a Romanian -- who worked for the oil service firms Oceaneering and Sparrows, sub-contractors to ExxonMobil.
AFP 10 1606 GMT 10 06
Copyright© 2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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