YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunman kidnapped three oil workers from Canada, Scotland and Nigeria at a rig in Nigeria’s Delta region on Saturday, officials said - the second abduction in the area in less than a week. The attackers raided the rig owned by Niger Delta Petroleum Resources in Ogbele, Rivers State at around 8 a.m. (0700 GMT), the spokesman for the area’s military operations, Major Ibrahim Abubakar, said. Troops were searching surrounding swamps, he added. State police said they had stepped up security on an east-west road where armed men had attacked civilians in recent weeks. The Niger Delta produces the bulk of Nigeria’s crude. It has been plagued by criminal gangs and by armed groups demanding a greater share of oil revenues for the region. On Thursday, two Royal Dutch Shell oil workers were kidnapped and their police escorts killed in Rivers State while returning from a trip. Reporting by Tife Owolabi in Yenagoa; Additional reporting by Anamesere Igboeroteonwu in Onitsha and Alexis Akwagyiram in Lagos; Writing by Libby George; Editing by Andrew Heavens
Three oil workers from Canada, Scotland and Nigeria have been kidnapped by gunmen who raided Shell-owned rig on 27 April, according to officials. It came days after the abduction of two a Niger Delta Petroleum Resources workers in the same region. Security around the Niger Delta, the country's key crude-producing region, was stepped up in recent weeks following increased attacks from armed gangs demanding a larger share of oil revenues for the region.