Two Norwegian and two Ukrainian oil workers kidnapped from a ship off the coast of Nigeria were freed on Tuesday after a week in captivity, a state government spokesman said, according to Reuters. After five abductions of an estimated total of 16 people this month, the latest release probably cuts the number of foreign oil workers held hostage in Africa's top producer to seven. "The hostages have been released and they are looking well," said Victor Akenge, Bayelsa State commissioner for the environment, after meeting the Norwegians and Ukrainians. The oil workers were abducted from a ship close to an offshore oil rig operated by Peak Petroleum, a partner of Equator Exploration. Peak is in dispute with a local community over jobs and benefits. The four men were released after Peak struck an agreement with the community, with the blessing of the local government, authorities said. The kidnappings follow a wave of militant attacks in the world's eighth largest oil exporter that have cut Nigerian production by a quarter since February. Many abductions are motivated by ransom, but some recent incidents have taken on a political tone, with demands reflecting a growing ethnic nationalism among the Ijaw tribe, native to the Niger Delta. Criminal gangs, sometimes involved in the large-scale theft of crude oil from pipelines, also regularly indulge in kidnapping and extortion, and it is often difficult to distinguish between the two. Violence is fuelled by widespread feelings of injustice in the Niger Delta region where most people live in poverty despite the wealth being pumped from their ancestral lands. The United States embassy in Nigeria said on Tuesday that it had received reports that an American citizen was among oil workers kidnapped in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt on Sunday. Armed men snatched at least five foreign workers -- two Britons, a German, an Irish and Polish -- from the Goodfellas nightclub shortly before midnight, but authorities still do not have a full list of those abducted. Diplomats said the American may have been abducted in a separate incident in the same city, but no further details were immediately available. "The signals say the kidnappers are hoodlums," said a spokeswoman for Rivers State police. The United States embassy said the nightclub incident represented a significant escalation in the recent kidnappings. "The U.S. Mission to Nigeria advises all American citizens to practice extreme caution in their daily activities and to avoid travel to the region," the embassy said. "Americans in the area should limit their travel, particularly at night, and should avoid public venues whenever possible."
