Nigeria: All eight hostages freed

All six kidnapped British oil workers in Nigeria have been released, it was announced today.

A local government spokesman confirmed the release of the six, plus an American and a Canadian, and said he was with them in the presence of the governor of a south-east Nigerian state.

Ekiyor Welson, spokesman for Bayelsa state in the southern Niger Delta region, where the eight were kidnapped from an offshore oil rig on Friday, said: “All the hostages have been released.

"They are with the governor now.”

The 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 Nigerian oil company Peak Petroleum.

Confusion surrounded the men’s fate earlier today. A police spokesman first reported all eight were released, then retracted his statement to say that the kidnappers had released only two Britons and agreed to set the others free, but had not yet done so.

In London, officials at the Foreign Office said they were still looking into claims that the men had been freed.

Police said yesterday they were negotiating with the kidnappers. They declined to say whether a ransom was paid, and did not say who was responsible for the hostage-taking.

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

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 the oil-rich southern delta, has said it was not responsible for the latest kidnappings, which it believes were purely a moneymaking scheme.

The group, known as MEND, is campaigning for a better distribution of Nigeria’s oil wealth. Its actions have cut oil production in the country and helped drive prices higher on international markets.

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

Nigerian militants have tried to justify 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 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, about 40 miles off the Nigerian coast, early on Friday. There were 84 people on board.

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 in the southern 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.