The 2008 oil price surge has been blamed in part on major supply disruptions in Nigeria and Iran. In Nigeria, militants have in the last two months significantly increased attacks on oil installations. Shell, which has the biggest presence in Nigeria of any oil major, has had to cut its one million barrels-per-day production by a quarter in the past two years because of attacks on its facilities by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend). Local and expatriate workers have been kidnapped. Most Westerners have now fled the region. ... Read full article