UK oil worker seized off Nigeria

Attacks on foreign workers are common in the oil-producing region

A Briton has been kidnapped from an oil ship off the Nigerian coast, company sources said.

The Foreign Office is investigating claims militants seized two expatriate oil workers - from the US and Britain - during an armed raid.

A spokesman for Petroleum Geo-Services, based in Norway, has confirmed two of its workers have been taken.

Another unnamed official said they were taken from the southern coast by gunmen, who sped away in boats.

Christopher Mollerlokken, spokesman for the company, which provides seismic data for the oil and gas industry, said: "We can confirm that a British national and an American national who are both employed by the company have been kidnapped."

It is not yet known whether the Briton is a man or a woman.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We can confirm that the British consulate is looking into reports that a British national has been kidnapped. We are unable to confirm any details at this time."

Attacks common

Hostage-taking has become a lucrative business for armed groups in the region - an area of creeks and swamps about the size of Scotland.

BBC Correspondent Alex Last in Lagos said a number of different armed groups have taken hostages in the last few months.

Almost all have demanded ransoms for their release, sometimes in the form of compensation deals for local communities who feel short-changed by the oil companies operating in their area.

He said: "Militancy has been on the rise in the Niger Delta. At its root is local anger at widespread poverty and pollution of their environment by the oil industry.

"Out of this armed groups have sprung up, some criminal, some more political - often the line is blurred."

He added that with elections approaching next year, many fear the violence is going to get worse.

In October four British oil workers were seized and later released after gunmen raided a residential compound housing expatriate staff.

The latest kidnappings come despite Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo promise in September to take strong action to curb the armed groups.