Gunmen kidnap six from Nigerian oil vessel-sources

LAGOS, May 25 (Reuters) Gunmen kidnapped six oil workers, possibly including foreign nationals, from a pipelaying vessel off the coast of Nigeria today, oil industry sources said.

Shots were fired during the abduction by suspected militants in two speed boats, which took place off the coast of the southern state of Bayelsa near the town of Sangana, the sources said.

''Six people, nationalities not confirmed, were abducted by militants on two speed boats,'' one of the sources said, asking not to be named.

They were taken from a pipelaying vessel contracted to Nigerian oil company Conoil, the sources added.

It came a day after gunmen kidnapped a Polish engineer near the oil city of Warri, which took the number of foreign workers being held by armed groups in the anarchic delta to 16.

Abductions for ransom or to press political demands are frequent in the impoverished Niger Delta, home to Africa' biggest oil industry.

Oil production from Nigeria, the world's eighth biggest exporter, is down by about 700,000 barrels per day or almost a quarter because of an 18-month surge in violence.

Unrest has peaked in the weeks running up to a change of government due to take place on Tuesday, when President Olusegun Obasanjo hands over to President-elect Umaru Yar'Adua.

Militants demanding regional control over oil revenues, compensation for oil spills and freedom for two jailed leaders from the region, see the handover as an opportunity to extract concessions from the central government.

But crime flourishes in the lawless delta and most abductions are motivated by money. About 100 foreigners have been kidnapped this year and released unharmed after their employers paid ransoms.

REUTERS SV ND1528