Two British hostages freed in Nigeria

Two kidnapped British oil workers have been released in Nigeria and six more hostages who are still being held are expected to be set free later today.

It was initially reported that all eight oil workers seized from an offshore oil rig on Friday had been released. It was later revealed that kidnappers had agreed to release them, but had only set free two of the Britons.

Six Britons, one American and a Canadian were kidnapped from a rig that was drilling off Nigeria’s southern coast. The oil rig was operated by Aberdeen-based Dolphin Drilling for the Nigerian oil company Peak Petroleum.

Presidential spokeswoman Remi Oyo said: “Two have been released as of now. The Bayelsa state authorities expect the rest will be released later today. Robust negotiations are going on in an atmosphere of friendliness.”

The hostages were kept in different places, from which they were supposed to have been brought to travel together to Abuja. The eight were all in good health.

Police said yesterday they were negotiating with the kidnappers and were hoping to make a breakthrough.

Authorities refused to say if a ransom was paid and did not say who was responsible for the hostage-taking.

The Movement for the Emancipation for the Niger Delta, the main militant group responsible for a wave of attacks and hostage-takings this year in Nigeria’s oil-rich southern delta, has said it is not responsible for the kidnappings.

The group, known as MEND, which has kidnapped oil workers in the past as part of a campaign for a better distribution of Nigeria’s oil wealth, said it believed the most recent kidnapping was purely a moneymaking scheme.

Speaking before the hostages’ release, Dolphin spokeswoman Sheena Wallace said she did not have the names of the missing crewmen or information about demands or know what group was behind the kidnapping.

In recent months, oil-region militants have blown up oil pipelines and kidnapped other foreign workers.

MEND has claimed responsibility for two kidnappings and blown-up oil installations. The group’s actions have cut oil production in the country and helped drive prices higher on international markets.

Nigerian militants have justified other such kidnappings as part of their campaign for local control of oil revenues by inhabitants of the country’s south, who feel cheated out of the region’s oil revenue.

Other groups have kidnapped oil workers as bargaining chips to prod companies to increase jobs or improve benefits. The kidnappings usually end peacefully.

The kidnappers struck the platform, which had 84 people on board, early on Friday morning. The rig was about 40 miles off the Nigerian coast.

Last month, an unidentified gunman riding a motorcycle shot and killed an American travelling in a car to work at the offices of the US drilling equipment maker Baker Hughes Inc. in the southern Nigerian oil hub of Port Harcourt.

Nigeria, which normally pumps 2.5 million barrels of crude a day, is the fifth-largest source of oil imports to the US.