OMEN
07-05-2006, 10:01 PM
GUNMEN in a speedboat tried to attack an oil rig offshore Nigeria's violent Niger Delta overnight, but withdrew after a brief battle with security guards, oil industry sources said.
A navy spokesman said one retired naval officer working as a security guard for Nigerian oil firm Conoil was abducted during the failed attack, but he had no further details.
It was not clear if the attackers reached the rig or were intercepted on the way, nor if Nigerian security forces were involved in repelling the raid.
"They abducted him because of a misunderstanding over an MOU (memorandum of understanding)," the navy spokesman said. Oil firms in the impoverished Niger Delta often sign MOUs with local communities promising jobs and investments.
Attacks on oil facilities or kidnappings of oil workers by groups who accuse companies of not keeping their MOU promises are frequent in the delta. Oil facilities are often protected by both private personnel and Nigerian troops or police.
The target of the failed attack was a rig operated by Transocean for Conoil but the facility was unaffected by the incident, security sources said.They said members of the Sengbama community in Bayelsa state, whose shoreline is closest to the rig, were involved.
The Niger Delta, home to Africa's biggest oil industry, has been hit by a wave of militant attacks this year that have killed an unknown number of security forces and cut crude output by a quarter since February.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the group behind most of this year's attacks, said in an email to Reuters it was not involved in Wednesday's failed raid and had no information about it.
Attacks on offshore rigs have increased in frequency and sophistication – a worrying trend for oil firms looking to move out of the dangerous creeks of the delta to offshore facilities, deemed safer because of the natural protection of the ocean.
Agence France-Presse
A navy spokesman said one retired naval officer working as a security guard for Nigerian oil firm Conoil was abducted during the failed attack, but he had no further details.
It was not clear if the attackers reached the rig or were intercepted on the way, nor if Nigerian security forces were involved in repelling the raid.
"They abducted him because of a misunderstanding over an MOU (memorandum of understanding)," the navy spokesman said. Oil firms in the impoverished Niger Delta often sign MOUs with local communities promising jobs and investments.
Attacks on oil facilities or kidnappings of oil workers by groups who accuse companies of not keeping their MOU promises are frequent in the delta. Oil facilities are often protected by both private personnel and Nigerian troops or police.
The target of the failed attack was a rig operated by Transocean for Conoil but the facility was unaffected by the incident, security sources said.They said members of the Sengbama community in Bayelsa state, whose shoreline is closest to the rig, were involved.
The Niger Delta, home to Africa's biggest oil industry, has been hit by a wave of militant attacks this year that have killed an unknown number of security forces and cut crude output by a quarter since February.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the group behind most of this year's attacks, said in an email to Reuters it was not involved in Wednesday's failed raid and had no information about it.
Attacks on offshore rigs have increased in frequency and sophistication – a worrying trend for oil firms looking to move out of the dangerous creeks of the delta to offshore facilities, deemed safer because of the natural protection of the ocean.
Agence France-Presse