Drilling Firm Won’t Pay Hostages’ Families: A...

Drilling Firm Won’t Pay Hostages’ Families: A Houston-based oil drilling firm said it cannot afford to pay the families of six workers trapped in Iraq and Kuwait because the invasion has halted all income from the region. Jay Simpson, a vice president of OGE Drilling Co., said the firm provides workers to Kuwait Oil Co. in return for a monthly fee but has been unable to collect payments. He said the latest unpaid invoice was for $450,000. Simpson said a company request to the Treasury Department to release funds frozen immediately after the invasion is pending.