ChevronTexaco Seeks Release of Hostages in Nigeria

Reuters.com ^ | 24 April 2002 | Reuters

[Vigilant1]

April 24, 2002 05:33 AM ET

LAGOS (Reuters) - ChevronTexaco said on Wednesday it was optimistic 43 of its workers still being held by Nigerian militants on an oil rig would be freed after talks.

The militant youths were still holding 43 workers, including foreigners, off Nigeria after releasing 45 of the original 88 hostages on Tuesday.

The U.S. oil company said it had arranged talks with the youths who stormed the rig last Sunday demanding contract jobs. Regional authorities and local community leaders were expected to take part in the talks.

"The meeting is at 11:00 a.m. (6 a.m. EDT) today," a spokesman for the Nigerian unit of ChevronTexaco, Tunde Ilevbare, said. "We are optimistic the situation will be resolved after the talks."

The company on Tuesday hailed the initial agreement with the youths which led to the evacuation of about half the hostages.

"We are encouraged by an agreement that was reached today for 45 workers on the rig to leave tonight Nigeria time," said ChevronTexaco spokesman Fred Gorell by phone from San Francisco.

"We hope (negotiations) will bring swift and peaceful resolution to the occupation."

The company's General Manager Asset Management, Dick Filgate, told Reuters in Lagos earlier that about 40 youths in boats had approached the rig, which is owned by Lloyd Noble, on Sunday. About 20 of them boarded and had remained there since, about five miles off Escravos.

"They mobilized a bunch of boats and people and occupied one of the drilling rigs," Filgate said. "The people on board the rig went inside and locked their doors."

He said the youths did not appear to be armed and the workers did not feel particularly threatened.

Nigerian analysts fear the incident could signal the start of a new cycle of attacks on oil multinationals by local people in oil-producing areas demanding a greater share of Nigeria's mineral wealth.

Prospects of such attacks increased after a Supreme Court ruling last month disappointed oil-producing states by reinforcing the federal government's control of oil revenues.

But Filgate played down such fears, saying: "This is people using their liberty to get jobs."

In the past three years, militant communities in the oil-producing Niger river delta have targeted oil companies in an often violent campaign to win a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth in the form of amenities or jobs. Militants have attacked oil facilities and seized hostages to press demands for cash, jobs or contracts. But such incidents have usually been resolved peacefully.

Ten workers at Nigeria's biggest oil producer, Royal Dutch/Shell, were released unharmed last month after local youths held them hostage for nearly a week.

That episode broke a long lull in hostage takings and abductions in the Niger delta following the government's inauguration of a special commission to develop the region.

[Fred Mertz]

Send in Jesse "Shakedown" Jackson - he'll get this thing settled for a minor fee.

[Vigilant1]

An earlier thread on this:

CHEVRONTEXACO SAYS 88 WORKERS HELD HOSTAGE ON OIL RIG OFF NIGERIA

[toddst]

"They mobilized a bunch of boats and people and occupied one of the drilling rigs," Filgate said. "The people on board the rig went inside and locked their doors." He said the youths did not appear to be armed and the workers did not feel particularly threatened.

So the response to being attacked is to be passive? How in the world does one manage to board an offshore oil rig from a boat without being challenged by someone in charge of security? These people could cause great harm - loss of the rig in a fire, etc. Doesn't make sense to me.

[Pern]

About 2 years ago I was offered a job in Nigeria as a project manager of a survey company. I had worked there once before, but offshore, not in country. I almost took it, until my wife started doing some research into the country. Apparently situations like this are common. Needless to say, I turned down the job.