Kindgo
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http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationw...world-headlines
Oil workers taken hostage in Nigeria
100 employees, including 21 Americans, captured on offshore installations
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By Glenn McKenzie
The Associated Press
Originally published April 29, 2003, 8:59 AM EDT
LAGOS, NIGERIA -- Nearly 100 foreign oil workers, including 21 Americans and 35 Britons, were being held hostage by striking Nigerian workers aboard offshore installations, company officials and union workers said Tuesday.
The strikers have been holding 97 foreign counterparts aboard four offshore drilling rigs owned by Houston-based Transocean since April 19. The action in a remote area off the West African nation's coastline became known only recently.
The rigs were drilling wells on behalf of oil multinationals Royal/Dutch Shell and TotalFina Elf.
The nationalities of more 40 hostages was not immediately known although Western diplomats said they included 21 Americans and 35 Britons. Their exact condition was also unclear, although there were no initial reports of injuries or deaths.
A highly-placed source close to ongoing negotiations between company officials and the strikers told The Associated Press that some of the foreign workers had sent e-mails from the facilities Monday to family members and diplomats complaining they had received death threats.
The source was speaking on condition of anonymity.
Shell spokesman Donald Boham said officials of his company were involved in the talks. He was unaware of any threats being made.
"The striking Nigerian workers have prevented the foreign workers from leaving the rigs," Boham said without elaborating.
The strikers were protesting a decision by their employer, Houston-based Transocean, to use boats instead of helicopters to ferry them to and from the company rigs about 40 kilometers (25 miles) offshore the restive Niger Delta state of Rivers, said Joseph Akinlaja, secretary-general of Nigeria's largest oil workers' union.
The strikers, whose numbers were unknown, were also apparently angry over company threats to institute disciplinary action against five union members, Akinlaja said.
Sabotage and hostage takings by community activists, labor groups and thugs demanding compensation for land use and alleged environmental damage are relatively common in the Niger Delta, where nearly all of Nigeria's oil is are drilled. Hostages are only rarely harmed.
Ethnic and political violence is another frequent hazard. Fighting in March shut down nearly 40 percent of Nigeria's production of 2.2 million barrels a day.
Nigeria is one of the world's largest oil exporters and the fifth biggest producer of U.S. oil imports.
Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
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