Nigeria cuts oil production by third as militants threaten wells

Oil majors said they have shut down wells producing more than a third of Nigeria’s oil exports, as ethnic militants in the Niger Delta threatened to destroy the firms’ evacuated facilities. The west African country’s army, meanwhile, claimed to have gained the upper hand in its battle with heavily armed ethnic Ijaw fighters, who have launched an uprising calling for increased political representation. But despite the army’s reassurances, Ijaw leaders warned their struggle was far from over and the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell said it had evacuated four more facilities in the troubled region. Shell’s announcement brings the total production loss by three oil multinationals in the region to 767,500 barrels per day, more than a third of the estimated daily exports from Africa’s largest oil producer. Full Story