Six oil workers, including two Germans of a sub-contractor for the oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell, were kidnapped on Wednesday in the southern Nigerian oil-rich Niger Delta region, a company spokesman said.

"We have heard about that six people were kidnapped. Two are Germans. All of them are staff of B&B (oil and gas services company)," Bisi Ojediran told Xinhua.

The six were reportedly abducted by a group of ethnic Ijaw militants in Bayelsa state who accused Shell of failing to meet economic and social commitments in their communities, near Shell's offshore EA oil field.

"The Bayelsa government has joined to resolve the issue. That's the latest," Ojediran said. Germany-based B&B is not immediately available for comment.

The spokesman admitted that development projects under an agreement between Shell and nine communities in the area have slowed down recently because of funding. But Shell is still committed to executing them, he said.

"We cannot say they are representing the communities and we did nod find an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with this particular group," he stated.

Communities in the Niger Delta, where the majority of Nigeria's oil is produced, usually accuse oil giants of not doing anything to develop the impoverished area, demanding compensation, sometimes seizing oil flow stations or kidnapping oil workers.

Before the kidnapping, thirteen villages in impoverished Niger Delta have served Shell with a quit notice.

Damfebo Derri, chairman of a road project forum, was quoted by state-run News Agency of Nigeria as saying on Monday that Shell had failed to redeem its six-year pledge to construct a 42-km road in the affected area in southern Bayelsa and Rivers states.

"The affected communities have therefore resolved to ask Shell to stop oil exploration activities and quit the area immediately for disappointing its hosts," Derri said.

"For the sake of clarity, we demand peacefully, but with resolute determination, that there should be no further development of oil and gas facilities on our territory," he said.

"That is, unless and until the construction of the 42-km Otuegila-Nembe road actually begins," he said, noting that they could no longer guarantee the security of workers and property of the company.

Nigeria is Africa's top oil producer with a daily output of about 2.2 million barrels, while Shell accounts for half of the country's oil production.

(Xinhua News Agency June 16, 2005)