Navy moves to evacuate besieged rigs

The Nigerian navy has begun deploying ships and troops to evacuate four oil rigs in the Gulf of Guinea, where striking oil workers had trapped hundreds of locals and foreigners after talks on ending the 12-day stand-off failed, officials said on Thursday. The rigs, located some 40 km off the Niger Delta, are operated by U.S-based Transocean Inc. on behalf of transnationals Royal/Dutch Shell and TotalFinaElf. A dispute between junior oil workers and management over use of boats instead of helicopters for crew changes escalated after five union leaders were fired. Negotiations between leaders of the blue-collar National Union of Petroleum and Gas Workers of Nigeria (NUPENG) and Transocean became deadlocked on Wednesday after the company refused to guarantee jobs for the strikers. The union leaders accused the company of planning to use force to end the dispute just as the navy announced it had begun deploying to the area. "The navy has gone to rescue those trapped on the rigs," Shinebi Hungiapuko, Nigerian navy spokesman, told IRIN. "We want to make sure everything is sorted out, amicably if possible," he added, refusing to rule out the use of force. While the national leadership of NUPENG had distanced itself from the strike on the oil platforms, it has threatened to call a wider strike to cripple the Nigerian oil industry if the navy uses force to evacuate the strikers. "If they use force and hurt any of our members, we may be forced to respond with a strike that'll hurt the entire industry," NUPENG president Peter Akpatason, told reporters. The union leader said that so far he had received no information indicating the navy had stormed the rigs. Akpatason said his union had called on the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which oversees the entire oil industry, to intervene to end the crisis. A spokesman for NNPC told IRIN company representatives had met officials of Transocean on Wednesday night to try and "find a lasting solution to the problem".