/ 29 June 1999

SHELL WORKERS KIDNAPPED

TWO expatriate workers of a contractor firm working for Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell have been taken hostage by a protesting group in Nigeria’s delta region, a Shell official said on Tuesday. The two men employed by Bristol Helicopters were seized with their aircraft at a Shell flowstation in Enwhen, Rivers State, on Sunday. Unconfirmed reports said the pair were a Briton and an Australian. “We have scheduled a meeting with them (the hostage-takers) today and we are certain it will be fruitful,” he said. The motive of the kidnappers was not clear on Tuesday. Shell has shut down the two oil wells feeding the Enwhe flowstation, costing the company around 1100 barrels of crude oil per day. Oil facilities are usually targets of attack by protesting groups seeking compensation, jobs and amenities in the oil-rich Niger delta region in the southeast of the country.