An armed attack on an oil industry boat in Nigeria’s southern Niger Delta on Tuesday in which a Dutch worker and Nigerian serviceman were killed was a robbery, military and industry sources said on Wednesday.
A senior foreign oil industry executive said the attack was symptomatic of a slide into anarchy in Africa’s oil heartland.
The two men were shot dead when 16 gunmen ambushed a small ferry operated by South Korean firm Hyundai on a river between regional capital Port Harcourt and the Bonny Island oil and gas complex, the Korean Foreign Ministry said.
Six others were wounded.
“The motive of the attack was to steal a large sum of money in the boat,” a military source said, adding it was likely that information about the transport of funds had been leaked from inside Hyundai.
“I am sure we will catch those behind it,” said the source, who did not wish to be named.
Violence is intensifying in the Niger Delta, home to Africa’s biggest oil industry, and has already forced Western multinationals to cut the country’s output by a fifth and withdraw thousands of foreign workers.
Police and navy spokesmen declined to comment on the attack. Foreign oil workers are rarely killed in the delta, although they are often kidnapped for ransom or by militants pushing for greater regional autonomy.
One militant group holding three Italians and one Lebanese oil worker said on Wednesday it had opened talks with the government on securing their release.
“I think we will see more of this over the next few months. Less integration, more anarchy,” said an industry executive.
Many expect violence to escalate across Nigeria in the run-up to a general election in April, especially in the delta where political office comes with control over a big slice of the nation’s oil revenue.
“The elections in the delta will be bloody this year,” said the leader of militant group MEND, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, in an e-mail to Reuters.
“There is no doubt politicians will utilise a number of militants for very violent purposes.”
COMMUNAL CONFLICT
The attack was apparently unrelated to a spiralling communal conflict at a nearby community in Rivers state where 12 people were killed on Sunday, prompting oil companies to evacuate three oilfield stations. Output was not immediately affected there.
Rivers state is in the eastern side of the Niger Delta, where multinationals evacuated hundreds of workers’ dependants last month after two car bombings in oil company compounds in the state capital Port Harcourt.
Foreign companies had already pulled out thousands of workers from the western delta after a wave of militant attacks last February that cut Nigerian output by at least 600,000 barrels per day.
Dozens of foreign oil workers were kidnapped last year by armed groups seeking ransoms, by communities seeking greater benefits from oil companies, and by militants fighting for more autonomy for the impoverished region.
Nine foreign oil workers are currently being held by two different groups.