/ 12 February 1999

BRITISH OIL MAN KIDNAPPED

NEGOTIATIONS are under way to secure the release of a British oil worker kidnapped on Thursday in the troubled Niger Delta region, a British embassy spokesperson said on Friday.The oil man was seized on Thursday by youths demanding money. His identity, and that of the company he works for, are being withheld at the request of his next of kin who are in Nigeria, she said. Local reports say that the man works for Anglo-Dutch operator Shell, which Shell denies.Such kidnappings occur frequently in the Delta, the main oil-producing region of Nigeria.