Shell reported that Roso, who works for the Seabulk company, was snatched by unidentified armed people from a company vessel in the Niger Delta near Ekeremor in the Nigerian state of Bayelsa.
Shell spokesman Harriman Oyofo told Reuters on the phone that the government of Bayelsa was negotiating Roso's release and that according to available information Roso is being looked after well. Fifteen other Nigerian workers were kidnapped along with Roso, but they were released on the same day. According to the Nigerian press, the kidnappers want Shell to sign a contract on investment to the benefit of the local community in exchange for Roso's release.
Oyofo said that Shell would not sign any documents with criminals.
The Croatian Embassy in Egypt, which also covers Nigeria, has been trying to find out through diplomatic channels what is going on with the abducted Croatian, and Croatian Ambassador to Egypt Ivan Tomic has sent a note to the Nigerian Embassy in Cairo and will personally contact the Nigerian ambassador in Egypt, the spokesman for the Croatian Foreign Ministry told Hina.
The Croatian Embassy in Cairo, which has not been officially notified about the kidnapping, has contacted the Croatian oil company Ina's office in Egypt and the Shell office to check the reports about Roso.
"After the reports are checked, Croatia will send a diplomatic or consular representative from Cairo to Nigeria if necessary," the Ministry said.
The spokesman for Bayelsa, Oronto Douglas, was quoted by Reuters as saying that the kidnappers were members of a militant group calling itself the "Iduwini Youths" and that the governor of Bayelsa had asked them to release the abducted Croatian.
The Iduwini Youths are a faction of the dominant Ijaw ethnic group that inhabit the vast impoverished wetlands of the Niger Delta.
The incident is the latest in a series of abductions of employees of oil companies operating in the Niger delta, where 2.5 million barrels of crude oil is produced daily.
According to official data, Nigeria is the world's eight biggest oil exporter and over recent years it has suffered losses amounting to several million dollars due to ethnic conflicts and abductions.