Gunmen in speed boats kidnapped several workers including a number of foreigners in a raid on an Italian oil production vessel off the Nigerian coast on Wednesday, industry and security sources said.
Italian oil company Eni said in Milan that seven of its workers were kidnapped when 10 armed men assaulted the vessel, which had 83 crew members aboard.
Oil company Agip closed 50,000 barrels per day of production at the offshore Okono Okpoho field as a result of the attack, the sources said.
“Some armed men came in several boats this morning to a facility in deep water and took everyone hostage,” said a security source in the oil industry, asking not to be named.
“The entire facility is under siege and several expats have been taken.”
The facility is located 34 miles (55 km) off the coast of the Niger Delta and is known as a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessel, a large tanker with crude oil and gas processing facilities on top and a tanker loading buoy attached.
Dozens of mostly foreign oil workers have been kidnapped in Nigeria this year as ransom-seekers have taken advantage of instability caused by growing militancy in the West African country’s deep south