Pirates have stormed an oil supply
vessel off southern Nigeria and kidnapped the
ship’s captain and chief engineer, both US
citizens, a private security firm and US officials
said Thursday. A US-flagged C-Retriever owned by American oil
servicing company Edison Chouest Offshore was
attacked on Wednesday off the city of Brass, said
AKE, a London-headquartered private security
firm. “Both the chief engineer and the captain were
kidnapped,” Richard Fylon of AKE said. “They are
both American.” US defence officials in Washington, who
requested anonymity, confirmed the details. The US Navy and the Marine Corps had not yet
received orders to intervene, two US defense
officials told AFP. An official at AKE’s Lagos office said this was the
first reported kidnapping of US nationals around
the oil-producing Niger Delta region in at least
two years. The official, who requested anonymity, said the
same area was attacked by pirates earlier this
week, but that there appeared to have been no
increase in naval patrols operating in the area. Police spokesman Alex Akhigbe in Bayelsa state,
where Brass is located, told AFP he had no details
on the raid. Nigeria’s navy was not available to comment. The kidnapping of foreigners working in the oil
sector was once a common occurence in the
delta. Abductions declined dramatically after a 2009
amnesty deal with rebels in the region, but they
have spiked again in recent months. Oil servicing ships have repeatedly been hit
around the Gulf of Guinea, which includes the
waters off Nigeria, Togo, Benin and parts of
Ghana. Sailors of varying nationalities have been taken
hostage, but typically released days or weeks
later. Most analysts say that ransoms are paid in
such cases, but the companies involved and
Nigerian officials rarely comment on payments to
kidnappers. In a report released last month, the Risk
Intelligence security firm said pirates in the gulf
have increasingly sought to rob international
vessels over the last two years. There are signs that the region’s pirates have
become bolder and developed more
sophisticated attack methods, the report said. The Lagos-based AKE official, citing recent attack
patterns, said the raid on the American-owned C-
Retriever was likely carried out by gunmen on
board two or three speed boats, with four
attackers on board each boat. The US navy, along with forces from Britain, Spain
and The Netherlands last week conducted a joint
training exercise with Nigeria’s navy to curb piracy
in the region. Nigeria is Africa’s top oil producer, generating
some two million barrels per day from onshore
and deepwater fields in the Niger Delta, which
falls along the Gulf of Guinea.
vessel off southern Nigeria and kidnapped the
ship’s captain and chief engineer, both US
citizens, a private security firm and US officials
said Thursday. A US-flagged C-Retriever owned by American oil
servicing company Edison Chouest Offshore was
attacked on Wednesday off the city of Brass, said
AKE, a London-headquartered private security
firm. “Both the chief engineer and the captain were
kidnapped,” Richard Fylon of AKE said. “They are
both American.” US defence officials in Washington, who
requested anonymity, confirmed the details. The US Navy and the Marine Corps had not yet
received orders to intervene, two US defense
officials told AFP. An official at AKE’s Lagos office said this was the
first reported kidnapping of US nationals around
the oil-producing Niger Delta region in at least
two years. The official, who requested anonymity, said the
same area was attacked by pirates earlier this
week, but that there appeared to have been no
increase in naval patrols operating in the area. Police spokesman Alex Akhigbe in Bayelsa state,
where Brass is located, told AFP he had no details
on the raid. Nigeria’s navy was not available to comment. The kidnapping of foreigners working in the oil
sector was once a common occurence in the
delta. Abductions declined dramatically after a 2009
amnesty deal with rebels in the region, but they
have spiked again in recent months. Oil servicing ships have repeatedly been hit
around the Gulf of Guinea, which includes the
waters off Nigeria, Togo, Benin and parts of
Ghana. Sailors of varying nationalities have been taken
hostage, but typically released days or weeks
later. Most analysts say that ransoms are paid in
such cases, but the companies involved and
Nigerian officials rarely comment on payments to
kidnappers. In a report released last month, the Risk
Intelligence security firm said pirates in the gulf
have increasingly sought to rob international
vessels over the last two years. There are signs that the region’s pirates have
become bolder and developed more
sophisticated attack methods, the report said. The Lagos-based AKE official, citing recent attack
patterns, said the raid on the American-owned C-
Retriever was likely carried out by gunmen on
board two or three speed boats, with four
attackers on board each boat. The US navy, along with forces from Britain, Spain
and The Netherlands last week conducted a joint
training exercise with Nigeria’s navy to curb piracy
in the region. Nigeria is Africa’s top oil producer, generating
some two million barrels per day from onshore
and deepwater fields in the Niger Delta, which
falls along the Gulf of Guinea.
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