Confusion over release of expat hostages in Nigeria

ABUJA, June 4 (Reuters) Nigerian police said eight foreign oil workers were freed today but a British diplomat said only some of the six Britons, one Canadian and one American had been released.

The eight men were seized by gunmen from an offshore oil rig in a night-time raid on Friday that raised new security fears after a series of militant attacks earlier this year that have shut down a quarter of oil output from Africa's top producer.

National police spokesman Haz Iwendi said authorities in Bayelsa, a coastal state nearest to the rig, had brokered the release of all eight men. He said he had no details on the conditions of their release.

''They were all released in the early hours of the morning.

They are in sound health. They are on their way to Abuja,'' said Iwendi, referring to the capital several hundred kilometres north of Bayelsa state.

But a British diplomat said: ''Sadly only some of them have been released.'' He did not offer any further details.

The information commissioner of Bayelsa state said he was not ready to comment yet.

The kidnappers had not listed specific demands but wanted to force the oil companies to negotiate on a range of issues including employment for local people, environmental impact and development projects, sources from the companies involved said.

Abductions are a common tactic by disgruntled groups in the Niger Delta, a vast, impoverished wetland that produces the bulk of Nigeria's 2.4 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil. Local people have seen few benefits from the industry.

Poverty, graft, lawlessness and struggles over a lucrative trade in stolen crude fuel militancy and unrest in the delta.

The men's abduction from the Bulford Dolphin exploration rig, 40 miles off the coast of Bayelsa, has raised concerns about security in the world's eighth biggest exporter of crude oil.

The sophisticated night-time raid, carried out by 20 to 30 gunmen in four speedboats, showed that even deep offshore facilities are no longer safe.

The rig is owned by the Norwegian oilfield services group Fred Olsen Energy ASA and leased to the Nigerian firm Peak Petroleum, which operates it in partnership with Equator Exploration.

The attack had no impact on oil output as the facility is an exploration rig that will not produce crude for years.

The militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), whose attacks have forced the closure of more than 500,000 barrels per day of oil production since February, said yesterday it was not involved in the latest abductions.

REUTERS SY RN1242