NIGERIA: Hostage death raises stakes in Nigerian oil crisis

The death of a British hostage in Nigeria's oil-producing south in a shoot out between kidnappers and troops raises the stakes for oil workers but is unlikely to change much for the industry, security experts said on Thursday (November 23). The Briton, abducted from an offshore facility with six other foreigners early on Wednesday (November 22), was killed later in the day when the kidnappers with the hostages in their boats ran into a military patrol in the remote creeks of the Niger Delta. It was unclear who shot him. Two other hostages were wounded in the firefight while the remaining four were released unharmed. All seven worked for Saipem, a unit of Italian oil giant Eni. "I heard that a vessel belonging to Saipem was attacked by the militants and some persons were held hostage this morning," Tijani Idris, a Saipem employee, told Reuters Television. Abductions of oil workers are frequent in the lawless delta but this was the first time a foreign hostage died. The only other known hostage death occurred in August, also during a botched attempt by Nigerian troops to free the captive, a Nigerian employee of Royal Dutch Shell. OPEC member Nigeria is Africa's top oil exporter and the eighth biggest in the world, but its roughly 2.4 million barrels per day (bpd) are pumped from the Niger Delta, where poverty and lawlessness fuel militancy and crime. Kidnappings have been a problem in the delta for years but 2006 has been particularly bad, with dozens of foreigners taken. Usually, after a few days, or at most a few weeks, in the remote mangrove creeks of the delta, the hostages are released unharmed after the payment of ransoms. Abductions are just one aspect of violence that has plagued the Niger Delta for years. Many villagers in the poor, impenetrable wetlands region resent the oil industry for generating huge revenues for the faraway government and foreign oil firms while they have no power, no roads, no clean water and few schools or clinics. This state of affairs has spawned a generation of angry youths eager to take up arms to press demands for development, or more often to make money. Kidnappings for ransom, theft of crude oil and thuggery sponsored by politicians are all commonplace. Systemic corruption among government officials and security forces and a complete breakdown of law and order in a region almost the size of England have also contributed to the deteriorating security situation in the delta. Nigeria has cut oil output by a fifth since February, when militants fighting for local control of the oil wealth staged a series of attacks on pipelines, platforms and export terminals.

ITN Source | November 24, 2006

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