Militants in oil-rich Niger Delta, south Nigeria on Tuesday
attacked a Shell oil platform and took 60 workers hostage, a Shell
spokesman said.
"Some armed youths shot their way into our facility at Nun
River," he said, adding that "they ordered people on the facility
to the security post where they are all being held now."
The attack caused the flow station shutdown, which has a daily
output of 12,000 barrels of crude.
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.
Officials from the Bayelsa State government were reportedly
negotiating with the attackers to persuade them to set the hostages
free and leave the platform.
Shell is Nigeria's largest oil producer whose production
accounts for almost half of Nigeria's daily crude output.
Tensions in the Niger Delta have flared in recent months as
communities of the oil-rich delta accuse foreign oil companies of
reneging on promises to provide jobs and social amenities.
Since the beginning of this month, more than 30 oil workers have
been kidnapped and 14 government soldiers killed in the oil
production region during firefights between the militants and
government troops.
Nigeria is the largest African oil production country or the
sixth largest oil exporter in the world with a daily crude output
of 2.6 million barrels.
(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2006)
