Afren Oil Employee KIdnapped In Nigerian Delta

Afren employees kidnapped in Nigeria

By Christopher Thompson
Published: November 8 2010 23:16 | Last updated: November 8 2010 23:16
Five employees of Afren, the Africa-focused independent oil company, have been kidnapped from an offshore rig in Nigeria.

The incident, in which the kidnappers shot and wounded two other workers, occurred on Monday morning during a period of maintenance on the Okoro field, which lies 12km offshore the country’s restive Niger Delta region.

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Osman Shahenshah, Afren’s chief executive, said: “There was an attack in the early hours of [Monday] morning. There were a couple of people shot who are now in stable condition and five hostages taken. Our highest priority is to secure the release of the employees.”

The five kidnapped are all foreign nationals, from Canada, the US and France.

Afren declined to comment on whether any group claimed responsibility. Its shares closed down 5.5 per cent, or 7.2p, at 123.7p.

Last year Umaru Yar’Adua, Nigeria’s former president, brokered an amnesty with the main militant group in the oil-rich southern Delta region that is officially ongoing, although it has not stopped piracy. Violence and kidnappings there had previously caused a sharp fall in Nigeria’s oil output.

Afren said the Okoro field, which produced an average of 18,300 barrels a day last year and is operated in tandem with Amni International, a Nigerian company, will resume production later this week.

The FTSE 250 explorer has made Nigeria central to its ambitions to boost production to 55,000 b/d by 2011.

In September, Galib Virani, Afren’s associate director, said the group could make further Nigerian acquisitions as it seeks to take advantage of companies such as Shell and Exxon, the previous operator of the Ebok field, scaling down operations in part due to security concerns.

Afren struck a £119m deal with Royal Dutch Shell, France’s Total and Italy’s Agip for their combined 45 per cent stake in Nigeria’s onshore OML 26 field last month.

Mr Shahenshah said Afren would be reviewing its security but the kidnapping would not dent its ambitions in the country.

“We all know there are these situations which occur from time to time and we will certainly be reviewing security arrangements.

“Nigeria remains a very important country for us.”