Gunmen boarded two fishing vessels just off the Atlantic Coast in Bayelsa State and took two people hostage, security sources said yesterday, the latest in a series of hijackings in the area.
The captains of the two boats were taken early on Friday, the same day eight pirates took three hostages from an oil supply vessel contracted by Chevron Corp, two security sources close to the incidents said.
Chevron confirmed the attack on the vessel owned by its contractor, the second hijacking on ships hired by the U.S. major off the coast this month.
Bayelsa has hundreds of kilometres of oil pipelines and other industry infrastructure crucial to Africa’s largest crude exporter. Violence in the Niger Delta’s vast swamps and waterways has in the past cut oil output, moving global prices.
The state is currently embroiled in a political dispute that pitches Governor Timipre Sylva against the leadership of his party,PDP,which does not want him to return for a second term in office.
Reuters quoted one Western diplomat as saying Sylva may have “become unpopular with someone right at the very top of the party”. A lot is at stake.
Sylva has condemned the deployment of soldiers to a state he is still supposed to run but also publicly urged his supporters to remain calm and keep the peace.
“Three ships taken in the same day. It could be a coincidence but elections in the Niger Delta can be volatile and this one particularly so,” one security source said.
Nigeria produces more than 2 million barrels per day of crude oil and is a key supplier to the United States, Europe and emerging markets in Asia.
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