THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Croatian Oil Worker Taken Hostage In Oil-Rich S Nigeria: “Armed youths stormed a boat belonging to a Royal Dutch/Shell Groups Co. (RD,SC) contractor in Nigeria's volatile southern oil region and kidnapped a Croatian crew member, officials said Monday.” (ShellNews.net) Posted 28 Dec 04

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

LAGOS (AP)--Armed youths stormed a boat belonging to a Royal Dutch/Shell Groups Co. (RD,SC) contractor in Nigeria's volatile southern oil region and kidnapped a Croatian crew member, officials said Monday.

The oil giant had established contact with the hostage takers, who attacked the supply ship Saturday as it plied a river in the oil-rich southern Nigeria state of Bayelsa, said Donald Boham, spokesman for the company's Nigerian subsidiary.

"We've located him and we're making contacts through the Bayelsa government, and expect him to be released soon," Boham said.

The boat, Seabulk, is run by a supplies contractor employed by Shell and the hostage isn't a direct employee of the petroleum company, he said.

Local groups seeking ransom often seize hostages, sometimes disrupting petroleum-pumping operations in the southern Niger Delta, which accounts for nearly all of Nigeria's daily exports of 2.5 million barrels.

Most hostages are released unharmed.

Nigeria is Africa's leading oil producer, the world's seventh-leading exporter and the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports.