A Briton and an American kidnapped from an oil industry ship off the southern Nigerian state of Bayelsa will be freed on Monday after four days in captivity, the state government said on Sunday.
The abduction of the two employees of Norway’s Petroleum Geo-Services on Thursday by villagers in a community dispute was the latest in a series of attacks on foreigners in the world’s eighth largest oil exporter.
The violence has forced hundreds of workers to pull out and has cut oil output from Africa’s top producer by 500,000 barrels a day since February.
“The hostages will be released latest by tomorrow evening. We had hoped they would be released today but something went wrong at the last minute,” a Bayelsa state spokesman said.
“The community is demanding basic amenities and is also hoping to get some money from this, but we are trying to avoid a situation where we have to pay ransom,” the spokesman said by telephone from the state capital, Yenagoa.
Gunmen in boats stormed the ship at dawn and seized only the two men. Other employees of PGS, an oil services firm specialising in exploration, were left unharmed.
Several recent abductions have been motivated by ransom, although militants demanding more regional autonomy are also a growing force. Disputes between oil companies and communities over jobs and other benefits often also play a role.
Hostages are rarely harmed in Nigeria and are usually released after money changes hands.
The latest kidnapping took place a few days after villagers vacated four oil facilities in neighbouring Rivers state which they had occupied for a week, hitting output by 60,000 barrels a day.
Bayelsa is one of Nigeria’s top oil producing states at the heart of the Niger Delta, a vast wetland region which accounts for most of Nigeria’s petroleum wealth.
Violence in the delta is rooted in poverty, corruption and lawlessness. Many residents of the poor region resent the multi-billion-dollar industry, which has damaged the environment and brought them few benefits.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, a militant group whose attacks and abductions in February forced Royal Dutch Shell to reduce output by 500,000 barrels a day, said last week it intended to resume attacks and take more hostages from this week.
The group has failed to follow through on similar threats in the past, but the U.S. embassy in Nigeria alerted its citizens to the latest threat, emphasising the risks of more kidnappings.