Story Highlights• Americans were abducted by unknown kidnappers overnight• Americans were working on barge near oil export terminal in the Niger Delta • Those abducted were employees of Chevron subcontractor Global Industries • Since late 2005, MEND militants have kidnapped dozens of foreign workers Adjust font size:
    LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- Four Americans working off the coast of southern Nigeria were abducted by unknown kidnappers overnight, an oil company official said Wednesday. According to Chevron spokesman Femi Odumabo, the U.S. nationals were working on a construction barge near Chevron's Escravos oil export terminal in the Niger Delta and are employees of Global Industries Ltd, a Chevron subcontractor. Odumabo said they were laying pipes for Chevron at Okan oil field. There has been a wave of kidnappings of foreign workers in the oil-rich Niger Delta. Since late 2005, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) militants have carried out numerous attacks on Nigeria's oil sector and abducted dozens of foreign workers, releasing nearly all of them unharmed. Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer. In 2005, it was the world's sixth-largest exporter of oil, but the conflict there has cut distribution by an estimated 500,000 barrels per day, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. |
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