LAGOS, Sept 24 (AFP) - Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell has evacuated some 200 non-essential workers from the Niger Delta because of insecurity in Nigeria's troubled oil region, a company spokesman told AFP on Friday.
"The action was purely a safety measure. We noticed a large movement of troops and we had to move some 200 non-essential staff from the Soku facility. Oil production is not affected at all," he said.
Shell's external relations manager, Don Boham, also told AFP oil production and exports had not been disrupted. "I can confidently tell you that Shell is still producing," he said.
The company spokesman said the workers had been evacuated between Thursday and Friday to avoid them being caught up in violence in the area, close to the oil city of Port Harcourt.
"We did not want them to be caught in the skirmishes between the military and armed gangs," he said, referring to two gangs fighting for control of the waterways and oil resources.
The Nigerian government deployed troops to the Niger Delta, particularly its main oil city of Port Harcourt and the environs, two weeks ago following fighting between the two armed gangs for control of the area's illegal crude oil extraction and trafficking operations.
Port Harcourt is the hub of Nigeria's oil industry. Several international oil giants and oilfield service companies have offices and workshops there.
Shell, a major operator in Nigeria, accounts for almost half of the west African country daily output of some 2.5 million barrels. Nigeria is world's sixth largest exporter.
The gangs fighting in the city and in several villages in the surrounding Niger Delta swamps have claimed up to 500 lives, according to the US-based Human Rights Watch.
But the Nigerian police have disputed the figure, saying only 13 people have died.