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Eight foreign oil workers were kidnapped by gunmen from a vessel off the Niger Delta on 26 July, increasing the number of industry workers captured in 48 hours to sixteen.
The tanker where the men were seized was off the mouth of the Bonny River in the delta, a system of mangrove creeks opening into the Gulf of Guinea, home to Africa's largest oil industry.
A spokesman from the military said "Around six heavily armed bandits attacked an LPG tanker, shot two civilians and abducted eight of the expatriates, whose identity is not yet ascertained". He added that the two civilians had been wounded and that no group had claimed responsibility, but suggested financial reasons for the kidnappings.
The captured men were understood to be from Latvia, Russia and Lithuania. A further security source said they were thought to have been working for Global Gas and Refining Ltd, a Nigerian subsidiary of the U.S. based company Global Energy Inc.
During an attack two days earlier, gunmen took 11 Russians and a Ukrainian from a vessel off Bonny Island. Some were let go the following day but five were still being detained, according to security officials. Two oil engineers were also kidnapped by over a dozen men in speedboats from a vessel in Port Harcourt on 25 July and another foreign oil worker was seized while buying food on land. A security spokesperson said it was unclear whether the same group was responsible for all of the kidnappings.
Oil output in Nigeria, the world's eighth biggest oil exporter, has been reduced by about a fifth since 2006, when activists started a campaign of violent sabotage to push for their neglected districts to be improved. Criminal gangs have exploited the instability in the country, financially supporting themselves through a profitable business in stolen crude oil and by kidnapping local politicians, businessmen and expatriates for ransom. Since the militants began their campaign more than two years ago over 200 foreigners have been seized. Almost all have been released without harm.
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