Following 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 after being kidnapped when gunmen attacked a base operated by South Korea’s Daewoo Engineering and Construction in the Bayelsa state capital, Yenagoa, on Jan. 10.
— Jan. 16 – Three people, including a Dutch oil worker, 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 telecom workers, kidnapped on Jan. 5 in Rivers State. One Italian is released in Bayelsa state. Three foreigners remain in captivity.
— Jan. 23 – Gunmen kidnap two engineers, one American and one British, in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt. The Briton is released on Feb. 7 and the American on Feb 17.
— Jan. 27 – A Belgian man working for a building materials company dies of gunshot wounds after gunmen ambushed him in Warri in the western Delta.
— Feb. 4 – Nine men working for the Chinese National Petroleum Company (CNPC), which was doing work for Shell in Bayelsa state, are released. They were kidnapped on Jan. 25.
— Feb. 6 – Gunmen abduct a Filipino worker on the road between Port Harcourt and Owerri.
— Feb. 7 – Gunmen kidnap a Filipina woman in Port Harcourt, the first known abduction of a woman in the region.
— A Frenchman, working on contract for oil giant Total, is kidnapped in Port Harcourt.
— Feb. 13 – Militants release all 24 Filipino crew members, who were captured when their cargo ship, belonging to German line Baco-Liner, was attacked on Jan. 20.
— Feb. 18 – Gunmen kidnap one Montenegrin and two Croatian oil workers, employees of Hydrodrive Nigeria, an offshore oil services company, in the Iwofe district of Port Harcourt.
— Feb. 23 – Gunmen shoot a Lebanese construction engineer in Port Harcourt.
— Feb. 26 – Two Italians, working for construction company Impregilo are released. They were kidnapped near Port Harcourt on Feb. 23.
— Feb. 28 – Gunmen kidnap a Lebanese construction worker at Mbiama community in Rivers state. He is employed by local firm Alren Construction Nigeria Ltd.
— March 8 – A Filipino oil contractor is freed.
— March 12 – The military rescue two Croats and a Montenegrin who had been held by suspected ransom-seekers.
— March 14 – Militants release two Italian oil workers Francesco Arena and Cosma Russo they had been holding hostage since Dec. 7.
— March 16 – Troops rescue a French oil worker kidnapped on Feb. 7. The release meant that there were no foreign hostages being held for the first time this year.
— March 19 – Gunmen abduct two Chinese and one Nigerian working in Anambra raising fears that hostage taking had spread to the southeast of the country.
— March 23 – Attackers in three speed boats storm the construction yard of German building contractor Bilfinger Berger in Port Harcourt and abduct the company’s Dutch security manager. Two others, a Lebanese and an Indian are kidnapped in Warri but are released on March 25.
— March 31 – Gunmen in two speedboats abduct a British oil worker in a pre-dawn raid on a drilling rig 40 miles off the coast of Nigeria.