Americans, Britons among oil-worker hostages in Nigeria

LAGOS, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Royal Dutch/Shell said on Wednesday it was talking to community leaders in southern Nigeria on how to free 165 oil workers, including 20 expatriates, held hostage by local militants on two of its rigs in the Niger Delta.

A Shell spokesman in Lagos told Reuters that the hostages, held by armed ethnic Ijaw militants since Monday, included seven U.S. citizens and five Britons. The remaining expatriates were Australians or Lebanese.

The spokesman said they were unharmed after spending two nights on two separate drilling rigs in the hot and humid mangrove swamps of the oil-rich Bayelsa State.

British and U.S. diplomats in Lagos confirmed the presence of their citizens on the captured rigs but added that they could give no further details.

The Shell spokesman said about 60 armed Ijaw youths were guarding the workers after storming the rigs from a fleet of motorboats, demanding jobs for local youths.

They had also asked to be paid 1,000 naira ($10) a day during their stay on the rig until the crisis was resolved.

The spokesman said the hostages were not Shell workers but employees of two of its service contractors -- Mallard and NGL Catering.

"Shell is meeting community leaders this morning along with the contractors," he said. "We are trying to get them (militants) off the rigs."

The talks were taking place in the communities of Egbema, Agalabiri and Agbidiama in Bayelsa state where the youths came from.

Shell had asked the Bayelsa state government and community leaders to help free the hostages.

Shell is the biggest of the multinational oil companies operating in Nigeria, with its production accounting for nearly half of the country's total daily output of just over two million barrels.

Violent protests by local communities demanding more access to oil wealth have severely hurt foreign oil firms working in Nigeria over the past two years.

Local militants have in the past held or abducted scores of oil workers, including foreigners. Most have been released unharmed after concessions on jobs or contracts from oil companies.

Unrest in the Niger Delta has claimed hundreds of lives and put increasing strain on companies pumping the crude oil which accounts for more than 90 percent of the value of Nigeria's exports.

The Niger Delta, which produces most of Nigeria's oil and includes the district around Warri to the west, has also witnessed a spate of attacks on product pipelines by local people siphoning off gasoline for sale.

Hundreds of people scavenging for spilling gasoline have died in recent months from fires resulting from accidental ignition of the fuel.

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