All Exxon Mobil Nigeria personnel told to stay home

LAGOS — All personnel except for security at ExxonMobil Corp.’s (XOM) Nigerian oil operations have been told to stay home Tuesday, staff said, following threats by ethnic militants.

Senior staff told Dow Jones Newswires all their colleagues at Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited’s office in Eket and its accompanying Qua Iboe export terminal in the eastern part of the troubled Niger Delta had been told to stay at home.

One, speaking from home, said: “Just before the close of work Monday, the company issued an instruction for staff not to report to work today (Tuesday).”

However, Rita Umoren, a spokeswoman for Exxon in Nigeria, told The Associated Press that it hadn’t evacuated its staff from the area: “We have measures in place to protect our people and operations but I won’t go into the specifics of it,” she said.

MarketWatch