Three employees of the Italian ENI oil company’s Saipem subsidiary have been abducted in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt, the Italian ANSA news agency reported on Thursday.
The three men, including an Italian, were traveling near their company on the outskirts of Port Harcourt when unidentified gunmen blocked their vehicle and killed one bodyguard, the report said.
The Italian Foreign Ministry confirmed the kidnappings of the three men outside the gates of their company in Port Harcourt in Nigeria’s southern oil producing region, according to the report.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, a Nigerian militant group, said two other Saipem employees were involved in the abduction.
The incident came after six foreign oil workers kidnapped in the same region 10 days ago were released Wednesday night.
Since January, about 40 foreign oil workers have been kidnapped in Nigeria, the largest oil producer in Africa, with around 15 abducted in the past two weeks by militants seeking control of local oil and gas.
Kidnappings of foreign oil workers and attacks on oil facilities by militant youths since the beginning of this year have forced Nigeria to cut production by 670,000 barrels per day, or 26 percent of its crude production.