A Briton and an American kidnapped from an oil industry ship off the southern Nigerian state of Bayelsa will be freed on Monday after four days in captivity, the state government said on Sunday, according to Reuters. The abduction of the two employees of Norway's Petroleum Geo-Services on Thursday by villagers in a community dispute was the latest in a series of attacks on foreigners in the world's eighth largest oil exporter. The violence has forced hundreds of workers to pull out and has cut oil output from Africa's top producer by 500,000 barrels a day since February. "The hostages will be released latest by tomorrow evening. We had hoped they would be released today but something went wrong at the last minute," a Bayelsa state spokesman said. "The community is demanding basic amenities and is also hoping to get some money from this, but we are trying to avoid a situation where we have to pay ransom," the spokesman said by telephone from the state capital, Yenagoa. Gunmen in boats stormed the ship at dawn and seized only the two men. Other employees of PGS, an oil services firm specialising in exploration, were left unharmed.
