By George Dwyer
Washington, DC
22 February 2006
 
watch Nigerian Oil report 

Militants in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger River Delta claim to have struck again. Only days after kidnapping a group of foreign oil workers, it now appears they have sabotaged a key production facility, reducing oil exports from Nigeria, and making oil traders nervous.

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Nigerian oil platform attacked by rebels   
  

The most recent violence has caused oil production in Nigeria, one of the worlds top-10 oil producing nations, to drop by 20 percent.  Oil installations belonging to Royal Dutch Shell have been attacked by a militant group. As a result, global prices have risen by about a dollar and a half per barrel. Nigeria supplies 2.8 percent of the world's oil.

The attack comes just days after nine oil workers employed by a U.S.-based oil services firm were taken hostage by militants claiming to belong to the same group, called M-E-N-D.

The Niger River Delta has been wracked with violent ethnic clashes in recent years, with armed groups seeking a greater share of the region's oil and demanding reparations from overseas oil companies for environmental pollution. Continued conflict in the region would likely lead to even higher world oil prices.