Gunmen have released two Nigerian senior managers seized last weekend in the country’s oil-rich south, colleagues at Royal Dutch Shell PLC said today.

An explosion occurred outside a government building in Nigeria's southern oil hub of Port Harcourt today, according to a reporter on the scene.

About a dozen gunmen attacked a Total SA oil pumping station in Nigeria early today, killing three police guards and shutting down the facility, company officials said.

Armed men have besieged an oil complex in southern Nigerian owned by a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, a local leader said today.

Angry villagers in Nigeria who took over three Shell oil platforms in the volatile Niger Delta have agreed to end their siege and allow operations to resume.

For centuries, Dutch windmills have pumped water out of the low-lying country, and old-fashioned wooden mills are as closely linked with the Netherlands’ international image as its dikes and bikes.

Wall Street ended slightly lower today as investors took profits amid nervousness about the US government’s second-quarter gross domestic product report. Concerns about another product delay at Microsoft weighed down the technology sector.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) essentially sat on its hands yesterday in the face of soaring oil prices by deciding to keep its output steady.

THE Irish Stock Exchange entered record-breaking territory yesterday as the benchmark ISEQ index set a new all-time high and added over €1 billion to its value.

CRUDE oil prices dropped sharply yesterday, the second straight day of declines, as traders welcomed news that Hurricane Rita had weakened, suggesting that damage to refinery capacity in the Gulf could be less severe than originally feared.

Reports of extensive damage and photos of fallen oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico sent crude oil prices surging above $70 today, as the realities of the long-term damage from Hurricane Katrina began to sink in.

Oil giant Shell said today it wanted to scrap its twin board structure as it battles to restore confidence in the wake of its reserves crisis.