Hopefully Goodluck's new cabinet house cleamning will stop this: Car Bombs Rattle Attempt to Renew Amnesty Process in Nigeria, Threats to Oil Production Intensify

Last September, an amnesty program initiated by the government of Nigeria had convinced thousands of militants to lay down their arms and succeeded in bringing some calm to the crucial oil-producing region of the Niger Delta. In October, the fragile peace in the Niger Delta had helped increase Nigeria’s oil production and exports. By December, the peace in the Niger Delta had begun to unravel. President Umaru Yar’Adua had left the country for medical treatment, and the amnesty program stalled.

On Monday, talks aimed at re-starting the amnesty process were interrupted by two car bombs, Reuters reported. The car bombs exploded near a government building in the southern Nigerian city of Warri and injured some six passersby, but no serious injuries or deaths were reported. The main rebel group operating in the Niger Delta, MEND, claimed responsibility for the attacks. The group said the bombings were in response to comments from a provincial politician that labeled MEND “a media creation.” The group also expressed frustration at the exclusion of community representatives from the amnesty process under President Yar’Adua’s acting replacement, Goodluck Jonathan. The MEND statement made clear its intention to step up attacks on oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta and included a specific threat against installations operated by French corporation Total, which has not previously been targeted.

The car bombings are the latest in a string of sporadic but escalating attacks that have taken place since January. Last month, the attacks resulted in a near 5 percent decrease in Nigeria’s oil production.

With the government straining to push forward an amnesty program that it hopes will bring lasting peace to the Niger Delta and a measure of stability to the nation’s oil industry, Nigeria is not in great political shape. Ethnic clashes in central Nigeria add to the government’s problems and paint a picture of instability that could very well further slow down oil production in the near future.

As unrest simmers in Nigeria, the world’s seventh-largest supplier of crude oil and member of OPEC, oil traders around the world will keep a watchful eye on the nation’s political situation. If political conflict comes to a boil and makes deeper cuts into the nation’s oil output, the resulting reduction in world supplies could bring major oil price spikes that would filter down to heating oil and gasoline prices in a matter of days.