Royal Dutch/Shell said yesterday it was talking to community leaders in southern Nigeria in an effort to free 165 oil workers, including 20 expatriates, held hostage by local militants on two of its rigs in the Niger Delta.
A Shell spokesman in Lagos said the hostages, held by armed ethnic Ijaw militants since Monday, include seven US citizens and five Britons. The remaining expatriates are Australians and Lebanese.
The spokesman said they were unharmed after spending two nights on two separate drilling rigs in the hot and humid mangrove swamps of the oil-rich Bayelsa State.
About 60 armed Ijaw youths are guarding the workers after storming the rigs from a fleet of motorboats, demanding jobs for locals. They had also asked to be paid £9 a day during their stay on the rig until the crisis was resolved.
The spokesman said the hostages are not Shell workers but employees of two of its service contractors - Mallard and NGL Catering. "Shell is meeting community leaders this morning along with the contractors," he said. "We are trying to get them [militants] off the rigs."
Shell is the biggest of the multinational oil companies operating in Nigeria, with its production accounting for nearly half of the country's total daily output of more than 2 million barrels.
Violent protests by local communities demanding more access to oil wealth have severely hurt foreign oil firms working in Nigeria over the past two years.
Local militants have in the past held or abducted scores of oil workers, including foreigners. Most have been released unharmed after concessions on jobs or contracts from oil companies.
Unrest in the Niger Delta has claimed hundreds of lives and put increasing strain on companies pumping the crude oil, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of the value of Nigeria's exports.