Shell helicopter, passengers still held

Oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell told IRIN on Monday that it was still consulting with community leaders to seek the release of the crew and passengers of a helicopter seized at the weekend by militant youths in the oil-producing Niger Delta.

A Shell spokesman said it was not possible to say when the five persons might be released. He was unable to confirm reports that an expatriate was among the hostages. The airplane belongs to Bristol Helicopters, a British company.

In the city of Port Harcourt, the largest in the Delta, police shot four youths last week in an attempt to evict them from the offices of Wilbros, a US oil service company.

At the weekend, community clashes forced Shell to declare force majeure at the Bonny Terminal, southeast of Port Harcourt, the spokesman told IRIN.

Shell has reached several agreements with communities in the Delta which accuse the transnational of polluting their rivers.
However, the fragmented nature of intra-communal interests has made the attainment of peace an elusive goal, the spokesman said.

“Every time we reach an agreement another group within the same community shuts down an oil terminal,” he said.