Workers seize Mobil Nigeria rig

[Steve Kretzmann <steve@moles.org>]

  75 on board Mobil Nigeria dispute rig
  
  LAGOS, Nigeria (Reuter) - Around 75 people, at least 13 of them foreigners,
  are on board a Mobil oil rig off southeast Nigeria under the control of
  disaffected workers, a company spokesman said Friday
  
  ``There are around 75 people on board the rig and of them 25 are involved in
  the dispute,'' the spokesman said in Lagos.
  
  Diplomats said six of the foreign workers are British, four Americans, two
  Irish and one Croatian.
  
  The spokesman said discussions were underway to resolve the dispute, which
  was between the workers and the contracting company which owns the rig. He
  did not give the precise location of the rig.
  
  ``Nobody has been hurt in any way and everybody is being calm...disputes
  over money are not unusual and because negotiations are now taking place on
  the rig and onshore we hope everything will be sorted out tomorrow
  (Saturday),'' he said.
  
  ``The dispute may have something to do with the likelihood that Mobil was
  wanting to release the rig,'' he added.
  
  Multinational oil companies working under joint venture agreements say they
  have been forced to move rigs and scale back their activities due to a
  government cut in their budgets to $2.05 billion from the $3.32 billion they
  had requested.
  
  ``Given current circumstances, we need to cut down costs,'' the spokesman
  said.
  
  Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with over 100 million people,
  produces over two million barrels of crude oil per day.
  
  
  from Nigeria Today, 9/15:
  
  75 PEOPLE HELD ON MOBIL OIL RIG FREED
  
  A strike on board a Mobil oil appraisal rig off southeast Nigeria (Edop
  offshore oil field) has ended after talks between disaffected workers and
  rig owner Reading and Bates, a Mobil spokesman said on Saturday. ``The
  strike ended at 11 p.m. last night. The rig is now working normally,''
  Lloyd Slater of Mobil's public affairs office in London said. He said the
  strike had been peaceful, adding it was not directed against Mobil but
  against the U.S. contracting company which owns the rig. Mobil said in
  Nigeria that about 75 people,  including 6 Britons, 4 Americans and 2 Irish
  nationals were on board the rig. It said the dispute may have had something
  to do with the likelihood that Mobil wanted to release the rig. Slater said
  the drilling operation was shut down during the strike but had now resumed.
  He added that contrary to earlier reports, no workers were held by the
  strikers during the dispute. Multinational oil companies working under
  joint venture agreements say they have been forced to move rigs and scale
  back their activities because of a government cut in their budgets to $2.05
  million from the $3.32 billion they had requested. Nigeria produces more
  than two million barrels of crude oil per day.
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