British oil worker killed after Nigeria kidnap

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, Nov 22 (Reuters) A British oil worker was killed today when Nigerian troops tried to free seven foreigners abducted from an offshore oilfield earlier in the day, military and industry sources said.

An Italian and one other foreign worker were injured in the rescue attempt, while the remaining four hostages were freed unharmed by the soldiers, who killed at least two kidnappers.

''Government security forces engaged militants from this morning's hostage taking. One expat is dead and two were injured. Four were unharmed,'' a military source said.

The British foreign office confirmed that the dead hostage was a British national.

It was the first time an expatriate oil worker has been killed after being taken hostage in Africa's top oil producer, security sources said.

Earlier today, a spokesman for Eni , the Italian company operating the offshore oilfield, said two Finns, a Briton, an Italian, a Filipino, a Pole and a Romanian had been taken by gunmen in speed boats.

Eni closed down its 50,000 barrels-a-day Okono/Okpoho oilfield as a result of the attack, an industry source said.

The facility, located 34 miles (55 km) off the coast of the Niger Delta, is a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessel, a stationary tanker with crude oil and gas processing facilities built on top and a loading buoy attached.

An industry source said the attack was ''community-related'', referring to disputes between oil companies and nearby villages, normally over employment, infrastructure and other benefits.

These disputes are common in the impoverished Niger Delta, and hostages are normally released unharmed after talks involving the local government.

CHANCE ENCOUNTER In this case, the kidnappers with the hostages in their boats ran into a military patrol by chance, and a firefight broke out, security sources said.

President Olusegun Obasanjo in August ordered the military to put a stop to a growing wave of hostage-taking in the Niger Delta, telling troops to meet ''force for force''.

Kidnapping is just one expression of a deteriorating situation in the vast wetlands region of southern Nigeria, which is home to all of the OPEC nation's petroleum resources.

Last week, Agip resolved a two-week siege of another oil facility in the Niger Delta in which 40 staff were held against their will. The government denied newspaper reports that the company paid large amounts of cash to the attackers.

Africa's top oil producer has already cut output by a fifth since February, when militants fighting for regional control of the delta's oil wealth staged a series of attacks on pipelines, platforms and export terminals.

Militancy is fuelled by poverty in villages that have seen few benefits from decades of oil extraction that has yielded huge revenues for the faraway federal government and oil firms.

But the violence has taken on a life of its own, with theft of crude oil, extortion and communal flare-ups also commonplace.

Dozens of mostly foreign oil workers have been abducted this year as ransom-seekers have taken advantage of instability caused by growing militancy.

Almost all have been released unharmed after payments, although in August one Nigerian oil worker was killed by troops as the militants were escorting him to freedom after a deal.

Reuters SBA VP0325