ABUJA, Nigeria, June 2 (UPI) -- Nigeria's military said Friday six Britons, one Canadian and one U.S. national were kidnapped from an offshore oil rig by about 30 gunmen in speedboats.
No one so far has claimed responsibility for the abductions from the Bulford Dolphin rig on the Niger Delta about 10 miles offshore, although there have been several attacks recently by militants seeking control of the oil wealth, reports the BBC.
The rig had sent out a distress call, saying it was under attack by the men in the speedboats, the report said. Nigeria, a major player in the OPEC oil cartel, has seen its oil output cut sharply as a result of such attacks, one of the reasons blamed for soaring oil prices.
Britain's Sky News said the rig is operated by Aberdeen-based Dolphin Drilling for the Nigerian oil company Peak Petroleum.
A British foreign office spokesman told Sky News, "We are aware of these reports and are urgently looking into them. These types of situations are not unusual in Nigeria, and we take them very seriously."
