Two Britons among oil workers kidnapped in Nigeria

Published on 12/01/2006 14:06

TWO Britons were today believed to be among four foreign oil workers kidnapped from an offshore oil platform off Nigeria.

Armed gunmen stormed the platform run by Royal Dutch Shell yesterday.

The Shell official said the workers were kidnapped from an anchored supply vessel in shallow waters off the southern oil-rich Niger Delta and taken to an unknown location. He had no other details but the Britons were named locally as Pat Crawlay and Nigel Watson-Clark.

Local communities in Nigeria have been demanding a greater share of revenues from the oil flowing from their land for years. Hostage takings are common and kidnapped workers are usually released unharmed.

Shell workers running the EA platform have been taken hostage twice in the past year over a dispute with neighbouring communities, who accuse the company of reneging on a promise to undertake development projects for their impoverished region.

A Croatian was seized in December 2004 and freed days later.

Two Germans and four Nigerian oil workers were similarly taken hostage in June and later freed.

Nigeria produces about 2.5 million barrels of oil a day.