CHRONOLOGY-Nigerian militant attacks on oil industry

Below is a chronology of some major attacks and kidnappings involving the Nigerian oil industry this year.

— Jan. 12, 2007 – Nine South Korean workers and one Nigerian are freed two days after being kidnapped from the Bayelsa state capital, Yenagoa.

— Jan. 16 – A Dutch oil worker and two other people are killed when their boat, operated by South Korean firm Hyundai, is attacked on its way to the Bonny Island export terminal.

— Jan. 18 – Gunmen free five Chinese workers kidnapped on Jan. 5 in Rivers State. An Italian is also released.

— Jan. 23 – Gunmen kidnap two engineers, one American and one British, in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt. They are released in February.

— Jan. 27 – A Belgian working for a building materials company dies of wounds after gunmen ambushed him in Warri.

— Feb. 4 – Nine men working for the Chinese National Petroleum Company, which was doing work for Shell in Bayelsa, are released after being kidnapped on Jan. 25.

— Feb. 6 – Gunmen abduct a Filipino worker on the road between Port Harcourt and Owerri.

— Feb. 7 – A Frenchman, working for oil giant Total, is kidnapped in Port Harcourt. He is rescued by troops on March 16.

— Feb. 13 – Militants release all 24 Filipino crew members captured when their cargo ship, belonging to a German company, was attacked on Jan. 20.

— Feb. 18 – Gunmen kidnap one Montenegrin and two Croatian oil workers, employees of Hydrodrive Nigeria, in Port Harcourt. They are rescued by the military on March 12.

— Feb. 23 – Gunmen kill a Lebanese construction engineer in Port Harcourt.

— Feb. 26 – Two Italians working for a construction company are released. They were kidnapped near Port Harcourt on Feb. 23.

— Feb. 28 – Gunmen kidnap a Lebanese construction worker who was employed by a local firm, in Rivers state.

— March 8 – A Filipino oil contractor is freed.

— March 14 – Militants release two Italian workers they had been holding hostage since Dec. 7.

— April 4 – A Dutch manager for German building contractor Bilfinger Berger, kidnapped in Port Harcourt on March 23, is released. A British worker, abducted from the Bulford Dolphin oil rig on March 31, is freed. Two Lebanese employed by Setraco who were abducted in Bayelsa on April 2 are also released.

— April 7 – Gunmen kidnap two Turkish engineers from their car in Port Harcourt. One works for Merpa, a Turkish firm that maintains telecommunications on oil platforms.

— April 27 – Gunmen kill two policemen in a failed kidnap attempt in Port Harcourt as the officers were escorting a convoy of vehicles carrying expatriate staff to work.

— May 1 – Four Italians are among six oil workers kidnapped from an offshore oil facility operated by U.S.-based Chevron. Chevron reduces output by 15,000 barrels a day.

— May 3 – Gunmen kidnap 20 foreign workers in three attacks in the Niger Delta, but eight are freed within hours. Saipem reduces output by about 50,000 barrels a day.

— May 5 – Gunmen abduct a British oil worker from Trident 8 rig operated by U.S.-based Transocean off the coast of the state of Bayelsa. Separately, gunmen abduct a Belarussian woman, who works as a manager of Britain’s Compass Group, from outside her residence in Port Harcourt’s exclusive GRA district.