Six foreign oil workers were kidnapped by militants who forced their way onto an oil storage vessel off the coast of Nigeria, Chevron Corp. said. A 15,000 barrel-a-day oil field was shut.
The Oloibiri floating storage and offloading vessel, which operates off the coast of Nigeria’s Bayelsa state, was attacked by “militants claiming to be members of the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND),” Chevron spokesman Michael Barrett in London said.
Four Italians, one American and one Croatian, all employees of Chevron Nigeria Ltd., were seized at 5 a.m. today by the militants, Barrett said. The San Ramon, California-based oil company is working with government agencies to resolve the situation as quickly as possible, he said.
The Nigerian Navy and U.S. embassy in Nigeria also confirmed the attack and kidnappings. Chevron Nigeria is a joint venture between U.S.-based Chevron and state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.
“We confirm that some Italian workers have been kidnapped,” Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema told reporters in Bari, Italy, according to his spokesman. “We have more than once stressed that Nigeria is a dangerous country and we had invited Italian companies to reduce their presence in certain areas to the minimum required.”
“This latest episode confirms the risks tied to the country’s instability,” D’Alema said. “Still, we cannot stop people from going.”
Chevron shut the 15,000 barrel-a-day Funiwa oil field as a result of the attack. The Pennington offshore crude oil export terminal, which gathers oil from several fields including Pennington, Middleton and Funiwa, remains open, Barrett said.