Almost 100 foreign oil workers have been taken hostage on oil platforms off the coast of Nigeria, inlcuding 35 Britons. Richard Colwill explains why oil has been as much a source of conflict as a source of revenue for the oil-rich nation

What is the hostage dispute about?

Around 100 Nigerian oil workers seized control of four US-owned oil platforms over a week ago. They are protesting at the sacking of five of their colleagues for alleged theft.

However the oil company, Transocean from Texas - which claims to be the world's largest offshore drilling company, has revealed few details about the dispute. The first indication of any problem came via hostages telephoning their relatives.

What is being done to resolve the dispute?

Today Transocean has been in talks with the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (Nupeng), the Nigerian oil workers' union, in an attempt to broker a deal.

However, oil is a sensitive issue in Nigeria, as is evidenced by the involvement of the Nigerian Navy, which said today that it would launch an operation to reclaim the platforms.

Is this kind of protest common in Nigeria?

Yes, particularly over the issue of Nigeria's oil reserves and who gets to benefit from the proceeds. Oil spillages, hostage-taking and attacks on oil installations are common in the Niger Delta, which is where most of the country's oil is located.

Ironically, oil firms had been getting increasingly impatient with the situation, devoting their attention to offshore projects instead.

Why is there so much conflict over oil in this region?

The oil-rich Delta region has been exploited by companies like Shell and Chevron for more than forty years, enjoying a boom time during the 1970s. However, the exploitation has coincided with the degradation of the local environment, while social services and employment has hardly improved at all, in spite of the vast wealth that the region has yielded.

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