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Nigerian navy storms oil rigs
21/11/2003 18:33 - (SA)
Lagos - Nigerian troops stormed two ChevronTexaco offshore oil platforms, liberating 12 workers held hostage there by heavily armed ethnic militants, said navy and company officials on Friday.
Twenty-six captors were arrested, several with injuries from the raid.
Shinebi Hungiapuko of the Nigerian navy said one captive was also hurt during the operation carried out late on Thursday by personnel travelling in several boats.
He said he could not confirm local media reports that at least one captor was killed.
"I feel good. It was a success that the navy was able to take over the platforms," said Hungiapuko.
The arrested men, some of whom surrendered while others resisted, were flown to the capital, Abuja, where they were to be charged.
ChevronTexaco's Deji Haastrup was unable to confirm whether there were any injuries.
Two company workers were still unaccounted for, he said, explaining that the company believed they might still be held by other militants in nearby villages.
Made numerous demands
The militants, armed with automatic weapons and hand grenades, had used speedboats to capture ChevronTexaco's Middleton and Pennington ocean platforms off Nigeria's southeastern Bayelsa state early on Wednesday.
The hostage-takers, members of an ethnic Ijaw group calling themselves Bini-Oru Security, made numerous demands, including jobs and monetary compensation from the company for an alleged oil spill near their community.
Four hostages were released within hours after the crisis began.
All the captives were Nigerian nationals.
Chuck Taylor, a senior company official, said after the raid: "We are relieved this terrible ordeal is over for many of those who were taken hostage.
"Our focus now is on trying to secure the release of the two missing workers. We continue to be gravely concerned for their safety."
Losing 140 000 barrels a day
Hostage-takings are common in Nigeria's restive oil delta, where activists and thugs also frequently target oil companies with sabotage and other attacks in a bid to extort payoffs.
Attacks since March have forced ChevronTexaco to halt a quarter of its Nigerian oil production, equivalent to 140 000 barrels a day.
Despite the region's vast petroleum reserves, most residents remain desperately poor.
Nigeria is one of the world's largest oil exporters and the fifth-largest producer of United States oil imports.
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