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

21 Dec 2006 10:41:54 GMT

Background: Nigeria violence

Dec 21 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell began evacuating hundreds of expatriate staff dependants on Thursday after militants planted a car bomb in a residential compound, the company said.

Following is a chronology of some major attacks on the Nigerian oil industry in the last three months.

— Aug. 3 – German Guido Schiffarth, an employee of Bilfinger and Berger, kidnapped in Port Harcourt, is released on Aug. 19.

— Aug. 4 – Gunmen abduct three Filipino oil workers from a bus near Port Harcourt. They are released 10 days later.

— Aug. 9 – Two Norwegian and two Ukrainian oil workers are kidnapped and freed six days later.

— Aug. 10 – Two contractors, a Belgian and a Moroccan, are kidnapped in Port Harcourt. Both are released on Aug. 14.

— Aug. 13 – Five foreign oil workers are kidnapped from a nightclub in Port Harcourt, two Britons, a German, an Irishman and a Pole. An American is also kidnapped.

— Aug. 16 – A Lebanese man is kidnapped near the border between Rivers and Bayelsa states. He is freed 16 days later.

— Aug. 24 – An Italian oil worker employed by Saipem is seized by gunmen in Port Harcourt. He is freed five days later.

— Oct. 2 – Twenty-five Nigerian staff of a Royal Dutch Shell contractor are abducted after a raid on boats carrying supplies to Shell facilities in the Cawthorne Channel in Rivers state. They are released two days later.

— Oct. 21 – Seven foreign oil workers held hostage since Oct. 3 are released. The men, four Britons, one Romanian, one Malaysian and an Indonesian, were kidnapped in a raid on a compound for expatriate contractors working for Exxon Mobil.

— Nov. 7 – An American and a Briton, working for Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) and kidnapped from a survey ship off the coast the southern state of Bayelsa on Nov 2, are freed.

— Nov. 22 – A British oil worker is killed when Nigerian troops try to free seven foreigners abducted from an offshore oilfield earlier in the day.

— Dec. 7 – Eight gunmen kidnap three Italians and one Lebanese from a residential facility after failing in their attempt to storm the Agip oil export terminal in Bayelsa state. The next day, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), threatens new attacks and claims responsibility.

— Dec. 14 – Armed men invade the Nun River logistics base operated by Royal Dutch Shell in Bayelsa state and hold at least five people hostage at the facility.

— Dec. 18 – Two car bomb explosions rock Port Harcourt. One near the compound of Italy’s Agip and the second in the Shell residential compound. There are no casualties.

— Dec. 21 – Armed militants storm the Obagi field facility in Rivers State, operated by Total, killing three people. Oil output is unaffected.

— Militants plant a car bomb in the Shell residential compund in Port Harcourt. Shell evacuates hundreds of expatriate staff from compounds in Port Harcourt, Warri and Bonny Island.

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