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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 24, 2002

88 Oil Workers Held Hostage in Nigeria

Oil giant Chevron Texaco said here on Tuesday that 88 of its workers, including 22 foreigners, are being held hostage on an oil rig off southern Nigeria by local youths.


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Oil giant Chevron Texaco said here on Tuesday that 88 of its workers, including 22 foreigners, are being held hostage on an oil rig off southern Nigeria by local youths.

Spokesman for the United States' company Dick Filgate told reporters that about 40 youths in boats approached the rig on Sunday and 20 of them boarded it and had remained there since.

The rig is about 8 kilometers off the town of Escravos in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

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

The hostage-takers, who are believed demanding jobs, have informed regional authorities to arrange talks with them on Wednesday.

Earlier this month, Nigerian military youths held 10 oil workers of Shell hostage on a boat close to an oil rig 20 nautical miles off the southern oil city of Warri, but freed them after three days.

In August last year, Shell's 99 oil workers were seized by youths reportedly supporting the struggle in the Niger Delta area for a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth. Later they were freed.

In terms of its vast oil reserves with more than 22 billion barrels, the Niger Delta is the richest oil-prone part of the west African country, but the people of the region remain poor. GNP per capita in the region is below the national average.

Militants in the Niger Delta have frequently taken foreign worker hostage in order to draw attention to their cause.


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