Thanks for covering this. Since the US Westcoast gets much of its oil from the sweet crude from the Niger Delta we should be concern that we are not contributing to or ignoring this humanitarian crisis.

I am waiting to see if the Niger Delta finally receives some attention. For years and years the people of the Niger Delta have suffered while everyone else profits from the oil. I was born and raised in Warri, known as the 'Oil City', but my family hails from from Jesse where over 250 people were killed in a pipeline explosion in 1998 when the villagers allegedly vandalized the pipeline that connects the Warri refinery with Kaduna in order to siphone fuel. Every time the price of gas goes up here in Houston, Texas, I pray another village is not paying for this so called 'sweet crude' with their lives.

Thanks so much for covering this important issue. Please continue to do so.

Why is it always about our bottom line. The real issue here isn't the price of oil, It's the basic rights of the people who live in the Niger delta. Billions of dollars of oil flow out from under their feet, and all they have to show for it is pollution, and destruction of there way of life. Just because American Oil companies bought permission from a corrupt Gov. doesn't make it right. A great wrong is being done to these people.

There is great injustice in the Niger Delta. There is military occupation by the Nigerian forces with help from American military advisers and weapons in the Niger Delta. Atrocities,
beatings, raping are being committed daily. The people of
the Niger Delta has had enough and they want all this to stop.
They want to see some dividends from this oil that is being
exploited in their land, which is destroying their environment.
Until the western powers and the chiness get involve to find
a negociated settlement to this crisis. The price of oil will continue to rocket sky high and even higher.

Thanks for the publication, the idea of third party-party talks on the Niger Delta issue is not out of place. It is a welcome idea because I believe that it will exhibit certain level of transparency in finding a lasting and bebefiting solution to the Niger Delta problem

America must do something to ease the tension in the Niger Delta to stem the soaring oil prices. American oil firms in Nigeria are spoiling the environment and are unwilling to stop gas flaring, some of the issues that are imflaming genuine stakeholders and criminally-minded elements who kidnap for ransom.
The way out is for Washington to ask its oil firms to include more Nigerians in their operations and apply the global standards in environmental issues in Nigeria.
The oil-bearing communities that lay the golden eggs must be made to have a say in oil matter in Nigeria and must also be made to enjoy the benefits of the black gold for there to be peace.
by http://rootsofdaniel.blogspot.com

Very true, Nigeria's problems with oil, "stability," and whatnot are our problems as well in this day of global interconnectivity.

My senior thesis last year at Harvard dealt with the ongoing situation in the Niger Delta over oil resources. It is truly a situation that would benefit from foreign powers (i.e. the US or UK) mediating talks between the rebels and the government. Nigerian activists and civic groups are doing a lot of that work now but, for better or for worse, outsiders still hold a certain sway over Nigerians in their post-colonial mindstates. Sad but true.

Anyway, thank you for the article and I can't wait to see/push/buy Sweet Crude once it's released!!!

Thank you for putting the message in the paper regarding happinings of Nigerial oil problems.

Thank you for this coverage.

Interesting, especially since Nigeria is a major oil exporter to the U.S., America purchased 42 percent of Nigeria’s crude oil exports in 2006. For every clash that occurs in the Niger Delta, you and I can rest assured that we will spend more money on such delicacies as fuel, electricity, and airfares.

Of course, this does not even begin to address the complexity of the issue: the way oil is handled in Nigeria is one of the root causes of the rebellions, which in turn drives up oil prices. Due to conditions of poverty, marginalization and injustice, some people in the Niger Delta feel they have no recourse except violence with which to better themselves. It’s a highly complex issue indeed.

So as we (Americans) watch, what is possibly the most contested race for U.S. president in our nation’s history...I ask that we stay mindful (aware)of what is happening in Nigeria's Niger Delta.

Thank you so much for covering the sweet crude issue in the Niger Delta. This is a case where no one wins as it stands. Gas prices are rising but the worst is the very shortsightedness of the oil industry in regard to the local region where the people, their way of life and the environment are scarred forever. This problem needs to be corrected and with more thorough news coverage more often, the more probable this dire issue will be corrected to the best it can be. Please continue to cover the news from this region.

I am routinely astounded by the unquenchable greed that, gollum like, can only see the 'precious'. Everything, and everyone else is secondary to getting more.
What would be the loss if a couple million, a hundred million even, were allowed to remain in the country and do some good there. Would the oil companies suffer? Not really, a few pennies per share at the most, and that not likely. Would they maybe get that money back by reducing the funding it takes to staff and maintain a military presence to protect everything?
Would it really hurt that much to establish some baseline of return, of human dignity, of commesurate value for what we are taking?
Not so much.
Except the oil companies, and the militaristic dictators that they work with and thru seem to need every last penny possible.
It is not hyperbole to compare these leeches to gollum, the lusting, contorted soul who lost everything but his drive to have "it". To have more.