Reuters Foundation: CHRONOLOGY-Nigerian militants’ attacks on oil, gas industries

03 Aug 2006 16:20:41 GMT
Source: Reuters

More  Aug 3 (Reuters) – A German oil contractor was kidnapped in the southern Nigerian oil city of Port Harcourt on Thursday by armed men dressed in military fatigues, police said.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which launched a series of attacks earlier this year that forced the closure of a quarter of Nigerian oil output, have been threatening strikes on crucial oil facilities.

Following is a chronology of some major attacks on the Nigerian oil industry in 2006.

— Jan. 10 – Militants kidnap four oil workers at gunpoint from Shell’s offshore E.A. oilfield. Shell shuts 115,000 bpd E.A. platform. The four workers were freed 20 days later.

— Militants also blow up major crude oil pipeline, cutting supplies to Forcados export terminal by 100,000 bpd.

— Feb. 18 – Militants in speedboats storm a barge operated by U.S. oil services company Willbros and abduct nine workers. Six are released on March 1, the remaining three on March 27.

— The militants also blow up a Shell crude oil pipeline and a gas pipeline operated by state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., and bomb Shell’s Forcados tanker loading platform.

— March 18 – Attackers blow up oil pipeline operated by Italian company Agip, shutting down 75,000 bpd. MEND says it was not involved.

— May 10 – A U.S. oil executive employed by Baker Hughes is killed in an apparently targeted attack in Port Harcourt.

— May 11 – An Italian is among three workers, employees of Italian oil contractor Saipem, who are kidnapped from a car. They were freed the next day.

— June 2 – Eight foreign oil workers are abducted from the Bulford Dolphin oil rig, 40 miles off the coast of southern Nigeria. The exploration rig is owned by Norwegian group Fred Olsen Energy. They are released two days later.

— June 7 – Militants attack a Shell-operated natural gas facility in the Niger Delta, kidnapping five South Korean contractors employed by Daewoo and Korea Gas Corp. Militants freed them the next day after a plea by the jailed leader in whose name the Koreans were abducted.

— June 20 – Two Filipino oil workers, employed by Beaufort International, are kidnapped near Port Harcourt. They are freed five days later.

— July 6 – Gunmen seize Dutchman Michael Los in Bayelsa in the Niger Delta. Los was working on an unfinished Shell gas plant. He is freed four days later.

— July 31 – Attackers have vacated the Agip Ogbainbiri flow station in southern Nigeria and freed all 24 hostages after they were paid off by government.

— Aug 3 – A German oil worker, employed by Bilfinger and Berger, is kidnapped in Port Harcourt.

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