Armed militants in Nigeria vowed on Sunday to cut daily oil exports from this West African nation's troubled delta region by another 1 million barrels by the end of this month, as OPEC nations prepared for a strategy meeting in Vienna this week.
A wave of militant assaults on pipelines and oil facilities has already cut production by 455,000 barrels per day in Nigeria, which normally exports 2.5 million barrels of crude daily.
In recent days, militants have repeatedly threatened to escalate the conflict with new attacks and rocket assaults on international oil tankers in Nigerian waters. There have been no new attacks since militants destroyed Shell-operated pipeline on Feb. 20.
In an e-mail to reporters, the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said "we are going to inflict one huge, crippling blow on the Nigerian oil industry and a most embarrassing attack on the Nigerian government."
"Our target for the month of March is a further cut of 1 million barrels," the email said.
The militant group claims to be fighting for the interests of the people of the Niger Delta region, which has remained poor despite the fact that most of Nigeria's oil is being pumped from it.
Attacks since January have caused severe disruptions to oil exports by Nigeria, one of OPEC's leading producers. The attacks have helped push edgy oil prices higher on international markets.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, meets tomorrow in Vienna to map out strategies for the spring and early summer.
Ethnic Ijaw militants took nine foreign oil workers hostages on Feb. 18 and released six of them last week. On Sunday, the militants said they had no plans to release the remaining three -- two Americans and one Briton.
The militant group wants President Olusegun Obasanjo's federal government to release two prominent, jailed Ijaws -- one militant leader accused of treason and a former regional governor held on corruption charges after he fled money laundering charges in Britain. They also want the federal government to increase the region's share of oil wealth.
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