A Reuters story by Tume Ahemba at www.reuters.com
LAGOS (Reuters) - Two Norwegians and two Ukrainians were kidnapped at gunpoint from an oil services ship off the coast of Nigeria on Wednesday, the latest in a series of abductions in Africa's top oil producer, authorities said.
The kidnappings coincide with an upsurge in militant attacks against the oil industry which has crippled a quarter of oil production in the world's eighth largest exporter.
"Four foreigners were kidnapped, two Norwegians and two Ukrainians," said Hafiz Ringim, police commissioner for Bayelsa state, where the attack happened.
"They were working in their boat around 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. when some armed men believed to be disgruntled members of the community attacked them and took them away. Right now, we have not been able to make contact with the hostages, but we are working on that."
The four work on a vessel owned by Trico Supply, a Norwegian unit of U.S.-based Trico Marine Services Inc.. The ship provides services to an offshore drilling rig owned by Norwegian Fred Olsen Energy.
Eight foreign workers were kidnapped from that same rig for two days in June in a dispute with a nearby community over jobs and investment.
Kidnappings of foreign workers are frequent in the mangrove creeks and swamps of the Niger Delta, which is home to all of Nigeria's oil and gas resources.
A German and three Filipinos were kidnapped in another part of the delta last week, and are still being held.
QUICK SOLUTION
Norway's ambassador to Nigeria told Reuters that officials had indications of who was behind the abductions and hoped to get into contact with them soon.
"We are hoping that this will be solved fairly fast," Ambassador Tore Nedreboe said. "There is hope of getting in contact with the kidnappers relatively quickly and getting into negotiations with them."
Militancy is fueled by widespread feelings of injustice in the vast wetlands region where most people live in poverty despite the wealth being pumped from their ancestral lands.
A series of attacks by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in February forced Royal Dutch Shell to evacuate hundreds of staff from the western delta, reducing output by about 500,000 barrels a day.
MEND is fighting for more local control over the delta's oil resources, compensation for pollution and the release of two jailed leaders from the region.
Criminal gangs involved in the large-scale theft of crude oil from pipelines have also been involved in kidnappings, and it is often difficult to distinguish between the two.
Expat
Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
