British oil worker abducted off Nigeria

By Tom Ashby

LAGOS (Reuters) - Gunmen in two speedboats abducted a British oil worker in a pre-dawn raid on a drilling rig 40 miles off the coast of Nigeria on Saturday, officials and industry sources said.

The gunmen first targeted a support vessel moored to the Bulford Dolphin rig, overpowered the crew, then climbed on to the rig and seized the Briton, a security expert working for a Western oil major said.

The Foreign Office in London confirmed the abduction.

"We can confirm there was an incident in the early hours of this morning in which a British national was taken hostage," a spokeswoman said. "We are in touch with the Nigerian authorities to try to secure a swift and peaceful resolution."

The security expert said the kidnappers came from a coastal community in the Niger Delta that has had disputes with the operators of the rig in the past.

Such disputes are common in the delta, where villagers neglected by corrupt governments expect oil companies to provide jobs and basic public services such as electricity, roads or clean water.

Kidnappings of foreign workers for ransom or to press political demands are common in the lawless delta, which accounts for all of Nigeria's roughly 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in crude oil production.

Six Britons, one American and a Canadian were kidnapped from Bulford Dolphin on June 2 last year in another night raid by gunmen in speedboats. They were released two days later.