Firm Denies Oil Workers KidnappedThe China National Petroleum Corporation Monday denied reports that two of its oil workers were kidnapped in Nigeria."We have confirmed that no Chinese employees were kidnapped or attacked," said Wu Haibin, spokesman of the Nigerian branch of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). "But we have warned our staff to be careful of such kind of violence." Last Friday, Reuters reported that militant youths in Nigeria's Niger Delta opened fire on a boat carrying Chinese workers and kidnapped two after a gun battle on the southern Forcados river. Chinese Embassy officials in the capital Lagos said they have not been informed of such an incident. However, the officials noted violent protests by local communities demanding more access to oil profits have occurred frequently over the past two years. Unrest in the Niger Delta has claimed hundreds of lives over the past years and tarnished multinational crude oil companies which account for more than 90 per cent of Nigeria's export value. Local communities have complained that oil pumping has not brought them any benefit and has seriously destroyed the area's environment. |
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