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All the more reason to get our PSCs signed:

LAGOS, Nigeria, Jan. 13 — A previously unknown Nigerian militant group claimed responsibility Friday for kidnapping four foreign oil workers and blowing up a pipeline — dual attacks that cut Nigeria's oil output by 10 percent.

Gunmen on Wednesday stormed an offshore oil platform run by Royal Dutch Shell in the volatile Niger Delta and seized the workers — an American, a Briton, a Bulgarian and a Honduran.
In a phone call to The Associated Press in Lagos, a man who identified himself as Brutus Etikpaden said his group carried out the kidnapping and an attack on an oil pipeline early Thursday.
He demanded the release of a top militia leader jailed for treason.
In an attempt to prove his group was holding the hostages, Etikpaden passed the phone to two of the men he said his group had abducted — one identified himself as American, the other as British.
Earlier, the head of Nigeria's navy, Vice Adm. Ganiyu Adekeye, told reporters in the southern oil port city of Warri that security forces had located a boat carrying the gunmen in the waterways of the oil-rich Niger Delta. He said an attempt would be made soon to rescue the captives.
Etikpaden warned against a rescue attempt, saying his men would fight and the hostages could die in the crossfire.
Etikpaden, speaking from an unknown location, called on the government to release Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, a militia leader who was arrested in September on treason charges. Dokubo-Asari has led an armed campaign for a greater share of oil wealth for the over 8 million Ijaws that dominate the delta.
''We don't want money. We want the Nigerian state to leave our oil alone,'' Etikpaden said.
Etikpaden also called for the release of former Gov. Dieprieye Alamieyeseigha, who has been arrested on corruption charges. He said the ex-governor had been victimized by President Olusegun Obasanjo for supporting demands for local control of oil wealth.
In London, Britain's Press Association identified the kidnapped Briton as Nigel Watson-Clark, a former paratrooper and father of three from Saltford. PA quoted his family and said Clark was working as a security officer in Nigeria and had been due to return in a few days after spending four weeks there.
One of the men who spoke to the AP identified himself Watson-Clark and said he was an employee of Echo Drill, a Shell contractor.
''They're treating us fine. But these guys have made it clear they're not up to any money,'' the man said. ''They want control of their oil fields and the release of Dokubo-Asari.''
Also Friday, Royal Dutch Shell announced delays of up to four days in oil shipments from Nigeria after the kidnap of the workers and the explosion that ruptured one of their pipelines early Thursday in the delta. The two attacks temporarily cut Nigeria's oil production by 10 percent.
Nigeria is Africa's leading oil exporter and the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports. The country produces about 2.5 million barrels a day.
But oil also is a source of unrest. Violence, hostage-taking and sabotage of oil operations have been common in the Niger Delta in the past 15 years amid demands by the region's impoverished communities for a greater share of the oil revenue flowing from their land.


Associated Press reporter Osomond Chidi in Warri contributed to this report.