Gunmen Hijack Supply Vessel In Nigeria,Seek Ransom

At the time it was hijacked, the Lourdes Tide was carrying supplies from Onne in Rivers state to Escravos in neighbouring Delta state.

Gunmen in Nigeria's Niger Delta hijacked a supply ship working for U.S. oil major Chevron and are demanding a ransom for the release of the vessel and its crew, the army said on Wednesday.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Sagir Musa said the unidentified hijackers were demanding 30 million naira ($254,539) in ransom for the release of the vessel and its 11-person crew, who included two foreigners, one Portuguese and one Ukrainian.

The armed men seized the ship, the Lourdes Tide, late on Tuesday, in the latest in a series of recent militant attacks and sabotage in the world's eighth-largest oil exporter that have helped pushed world oil prices to new record highs.

At the time it was hijacked, the Lourdes Tide was carrying supplies from Onne in Rivers state to Escravos in neighbouring Delta state in the oil-producing region.

"We do not know who is responsible," Musa said. But he added the hijackers wanted the ransom money delivered at Efoko, New Calabar river, near Port Harcourt, the Niger Delta's main city.

Chevron officials were not immediately available for comment.

Kidnappings for ransom are common in the Niger Delta, where militant groups began a violent campaign in 2006 to press for greater local control over oil revenues and development for the impoverished region, where five decades of oil extraction have polluted the land and water, and enriched corrupt politicians.

But crime and militancy are intertwined in the delta and criminal gangs make big profits from kidnappings for ransom, from lucrative trade in stolen oil or from providing thugs-for-hire to politicians who use them to steal elections.

Oil companies and trading sources say the recent spate of attacks and sabotage have shut in about 559,000 barrels per day of Nigerian production, about 19 percent of the installed output capacity of around 3 million bpd in the West African state.