At least seven foreign oil workers were kidnapped in a militant attack on an oil industry compound in Nigeria’s southern oil-producing delta on Tuesday, oil industry sources said.
The workers — including three Britons and two Malaysians — were taken from a compound in Eket, close to the operational base of ExxonMobil, which produces about 800,000 barrels a day in Africa’s top oil producer.
Two Nigerian security guards were killed in the attack, the sources added.
“The incident took place at Eseakpan residential area for service companies in Eket. Two civilian guards were killed. Three British and two Malaysians were among those kidnapped,” one oil industry source said.
No other details were immediately available.
Earlier on Tuesday, officials said about 25 Nigerian staff of a Royal Dutch Shell contractor were abducted and seven soldiers were missing after a raid on Monday on a convoy of boats supplying oilfields in a different part of the delta.
At least three soldiers protecting the convoy were killed when about 70 gunmen in speed boats attacked the barges carrying fuel and other supplies to Shell facilities in the remote Cawthorne Channel in Rivers state in the Niger Delta.
It ended a period of relative quiet in the Niger Delta, which accounts for all oil output from the world’s eighth-biggest exporter. A sixth of Nigeria’s production capacity has been shut down since February following a wave of militant attacks on oil facilities that month.
The supply disruption from OPEC member Nigeria has contributed to several spikes in world oil prices.
Monday’s attack did not affect production as it occurred on a river far from any facilities, company sources said.
The Niger Delta was relatively quiet in September after a spate of kidnappings for ransom in August. A total of 18 oil workers were abducted that month in eight separate incidents. One of the hostages was shot dead by troops during a botched attempt to release him, while all the others have been freed.
Violence in the delta is rooted in poverty, corruption and lawlessness. Most inhabitants of the wetlands region, which is almost the size of England, have seen few benefits from five decades of oil extraction that has damaged their environment.
Their resentment toward the oil industry breeds militancy, but other factors such as the struggle for control of a lucrative oil smuggling business and the lure of ransoms also fuel violence.