Nigeria: Search ended for oil worker 3 weeks after his fall from Transocean drilling ship

Nigeria: Search called off for missing oil worker

LAGOS, Nigeria — Authorities in Nigeria say they have ended a search for a worker who fell from a Transocean drilling ship off the coast of the oil-rich country.

Transocean spokesman Guy Cantwell said Tuesday that rescuers had stopped searching for the Nigerian worker who fell overboard July 31. Cantwell says the man is still considered missing. He says Transocean officials will meet with the man’s family and with his employer.

French oil firm Total SA leases drilling ships from Transocean, the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor based in Zug, Switzerland. Total, Europe’s third largest oil company, says African oil fields produce about 750,000 barrels a day — roughly a third of its production.