Shell Nigeria staff held as dispute turns ugly

Nigeria continues to hold its reputation in the petroleum industry as a dangerous place to do business. Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria Ltd. was forced to shut down six oil producing stations in Nigeria's Delta state, when local people seized installations on Mar. 22. One hundred and twenty seven Shell staff and contractors, all Nigerians, were originally held captive. Six of these were injured, and office equipment at the stations was smashed.

March 31, 1997

3 min read

Nigeria continues to hold its reputation in the petroleum industry as a dangerous place to do business.

Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria Ltd. was forced to shut down six oil producing stations in Nigeria's Delta state, when local people seized installations on Mar. 22.

One hundred and twenty seven Shell staff and contractors, all Nigerians, were originally held captive. Six of these were injured, and office equipment at the stations was smashed.

Next day, the protest turned ugly, with one hostage injured seriously and another three hurt. At OGJ presstime, a Shell official said the situation was calmer and the injured had been released.

The official said other captives had also been released, leaving 96 still detained. The company has not requested help from Nigerian authorities, although it has kept them informed.

This protest follows peaceful resolution of the capture of a laybarge by protesters a few weeks ago, in marshland along the Nigerian coast. The DLB-1 laybarge of ETPM, Paris, was seized as it delivered goods to a Chevron Corp. terminal on the Escravos River.

Shell's woes continue

Once again, Shell has found itself caught in a dispute outside its jurisdiction. This time the protest is over local government area boundary changes: "Shell was just there. Invading oil installations was seen as a good way of bringing attention to the protesters' demands," the Shell official said.

The official added that Shell's first priority was to get the injured out, get the remaining captives out, and then return to the installations to get them back into operation.

The protesters invaded flow stations Egwa-1, Egwa-11, Odidi-1, Odidi-11, Batan, and Jones Creek in the region's northern swamp area. About 100,000 b/d of production capacity has been shut in.

The Shell official said exports will not be affected for the foreseeable future, because the company has some flexibility in replacing production. Normally the region produces 450,000 b/d of oil.

Laybarge seizure

In the ETPM incident, a crew of 70 Nigerians from the Igbutu community, 16 French workers, 3 Britons, and a U.S. citizen were held by people from another local community, who reached the barge in small boats.

An ETPM official said the laybarge crew was released after the company paid "compensation money" to the protesters for not being given jobs on the vessel.

The official said there has been rivalry between the Igbutus and a neighboring community and anger among the boarders that only Igbutus are employed on the barge.

ETPM suffered a similar problem in late December with its Polaris lay barge. Then, the Nigerian navy was mobilized to regain control of the vessel and free hostages (OGJ, Jan. 13, 1997, p. 27).