Nigerian militants have released the remaining fifteen Shell hostages late Wednesday, a local government official has said.

According to Godknows Igali, the Secretary to Bayelsa State Government, all remaining hostages have been released on Wednesday night and no one was hurt.

Shell has also confirmed the recent releases.

Although Igali did not disclose whether any ransom was paid, unconfirmed sources said that a large amount was spent to secure freedom for the hostages.

Around 60 workers were taken hostage on Tuesday morning when local militants seized a Shell flow station in Nigerian's oil-rich Niger Delta.

The majority of these kidnapped were released on Tuesday night.

Shell, which produces about half of the total exports of Nigerian crude oil of 2.6 million barrels a day, said there had been no casualties in the hostage-taking which resulted in a flow station shutdown and production loss of some 12,000 barrels of oil per day.

(Xinhua News Agency October 12, 2006)