Singh reportedly told Nigerian lawmakers in Abuja India is seeking closer ties with Nigeria in order to boost his nation's "energy security" for years to come.

India receives 11 percent to 12 percent of its oil supply from Nigeria, Africa's No. 1 producer and a major supplier to the United States and Europe. Indian energy officials said they would like to see Nigerian oil imports increase to 16 percent to 17 percent of the total oil consumed.

"Nigeria's rich natural resources provide the base for our mutually beneficial cooperation for energy security production, clean technologies, and renewable sources of energy," Singh said Monday. "Nigeria is already India's largest trading partner in Africa. But we need to vastly expand and diversify our trade."

Ties have become closer in recent months, with Nigeria supporting India's bid to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and India donating a reported $900 million toward Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua's seven-point political and economic reforms.

In turn, India is seeking to develop its own petroleum blocks in Nigeria, according to Indian and Nigerian officials.

"This is a significant development in our quest for energy security," said Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma, The Hindu reported Tuesday.

"We are also addressing positively the (Nigerian) proposal to set up a major refinery in which the Oil and Natural Gas Corp. will be the leader. We are also going to explore opportunities in upstream and downstream sectors."

India's zeal for augmenting energy ties with Nigeria comes amid volatility in the oil-producing states of the Niger Delta where armed militant groups and gangs continue to attack foreign and domestic oil and gas installations causing significant disruptions to the country's production levels. Some estimate that Nigeria's potential output has been reduced by 20 percent to 25 percent since violence in the delta began in late 2005.

Since the 1970s Nigeria has pumped more than $300 billion worth of crude from the southern delta states, according to estimates. High unemployment in the delta, environmental degradation due to oil and gas extraction, and a lack of basic resources such as fresh water and electricity have angered the region's youth, who have taken up arms, many times supplied by political leaders, and formed militant groups and local gangs.

Ire over the degradation of the delta last month prompted Nigeria's leading militant group to threaten to resume attacks on foreign and domestic oil and gas operations following a four-month cease-fire intended to allow the new president to make good on vows to reform the petroleum sector and root out corruption.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta sent a communique to local media stating its intention to resume attacks and kidnapping of industry workers.

Since then, there have been no major incidents of violence directed at petroleum operations attributed to MEND, though numerous other groups have been blamed for attacks during the cease-fire.

"There will be no forewarning of these attacks but a statement will follow soon after," the statement said.

The statement said the decision was prompted by the arrest of one of its leaders in Angola in September.

MEND and other militant groups have called for a more equitable distribution of the country's oil wealth.

Now, MEND appears set to extend it influence beyond the delta, threatening to wage attacks in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos.

MEND specifically threatened one of the city's longest bridges, the Third Mainland Bridge, said Sebastian Spio-Garbrah, an Africa analyst for the Eurasia Group, who said MEND's pledge to wage battles outside the delta was a sign Yar'Adua's professed effort to clamp down on the militants was working.

"The statement is likely a sign that MEND has lost most of its operational maneuverability in the Niger delta and is getting increasingly desperate," Spio-Garbrah wrote Wednesday.

(e-mail: [email protected])

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