Nigeria hostages release delayed

Bayelsa may be oil-rich but its people live in poverty

The release of 165 oil workers being held hostage by armed men on two Nigerian oil rigs has been delayed.

According to the rig owners, Royal Dutch/Shell the delay has been caused by difficult terrain preventing negotiators for the gunmen, with whom the release deal was struck, from returning to the rigs.

The hostages have been held since the armed men, believed to be local residents, stormed the facilities in the Niger Delta on Monday.

On Wednesday, Royal Dutch/Shell said it had reached a deal with the hostage takers, who agreed to release the men - but by Friday morning this had still not happened.

Delta oil hostages

March 2000 - 32 held for 5 days

July 99 - 64 held for two days

June 99 - 2 helicopter pilots held for 3 weeks

Speaking to the BBC, a spokesman for the oil company said the hostages, believed to be 144 Nigerians, seven US citizens, five Britons and some Australians and Lebanese, were safe.

The armed men were demanding employment with the company and unspecified "compensation" for taking oil from the area, according to the company.

The Royal Dutch/Shell spokesman said the group's demands would be discussed at a meeting on 15 August.

Militants in the Niger Delta region have frequently taken foreign workers hostage in order to draw attention to their cause, demanding money or jobs.

Oil workers are frequently targeted

The rigs are located in one of the most inaccessible areas of the Niger Delta, a region of sea water creeks, swamps and mangrove islands.

A spokesman for Royal Dutch/Shell, Harriam Essa Oyofo, told the BBC the 35 people came to the oil rigs in 8 motorboats.

Company officials spent Wednesday talking with local community leaders.

The company had also asked the governor of Bayelsa state to intervene to ensure the incident ended peacefully.

Poor region

Oil production in the Delta generates much of Nigeria's revenue, but historically the region has not benefited from the wealth.

Royal Dutch/Shell is the largest multinational oil company operating in Nigeria, and its production accounts for nearly half of the country's total daily output of just over two million barrels a day.

President Olusegun Obasanjo promised to develop the oil-producing areas when he came to power last year and has set up a new body, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), to do this.

But so far little has changed for the residents of the area with unemployment still high and infrastructure poor.