Nigeria’s president ordered the armed forces to beef up security after an attack by militants on oil installations in an offshore field.
The Thursday assault on a rig in the Bonga oil field nearly 100 miles from Nigeria’s southern coast caused Royal Dutch Shell PLC to shut down 200,000 barrels per day in production.

The main militant group in Nigeria’s oil-rich south said it would halt hostilities that have helped drive global crude prices higher if the government there would agree to mediation involving former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
The militants said Carter had agreed to help negotiate an end the long-running crisis, but an official affiliated with the former [...]

Oil prices hit a record high $117 a barrel Friday as jitters over Nigerian oil supplies outweighed a rally in the dollar and fears of an economic slowdown in giant energy consumer China.
U.S. light crude settled up $1.83 at $116.96 a barrel, before hitting a record $117. London Brent crude gained $1.49 to $113.92.
Oil prices [...]

Several Chinese workers were taken hostage in the southern Nigerian oil state of Bayelsa, police and industry sources said.
“I can confirm to you that some Chinese have been abducted at Sagbama. I don’t know how many because the details of the incident are still unknown,” Basyelsa state police commissioner Hafiz Ringim told AFP Thursday.
Industry sources [...]

Nigerian officials have said they were intensifying efforts to secure the release of six Filipino oil workers and a local staffer taken hostage this weekend in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
“Governor James Ibori has swung into action to secure the release of the men,” Sheddy Ozoene, the spokesman for the governor in southern Delta State where [...]

Militants have kidnapped nine South Korean oil workers and one local worker in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria, bringing the total number of foreigners currently held hostage there to 18.
The latest attack came barely five days after the abduction of five Chinese telecoms workers and a month after the kidnapping of three Italians [...]

Oil prices edged higher Tuesday, after tumbling more than $2 a barrel the previous day as traders anticipated that U.S. supply data due out this week would show rising inventories of crude.
Traders were also doubtful about OPEC’s ability to implement its plan to cut 1.2 million barrels a day of production — or that it [...]

Crude futures fell by nearly 2 dollars Monday as Tropical Storm Ernesto weakened and appeared to be tracking a course that would avoid Gulf of Mexico oil installations.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, fell 1.90 dollars at 70.61 dollars per barrel.
In London, [...]