Abuja courts London for oil reforms

ABUJA, Nigeria, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Energy officials in Abuja kicked off a summit with the British government to build the capacity of the Nigeria oil sector, the Nigerian oil minister said.

Rilwanu Lukman, the Nigerian oil minister, said bilateral energy cooperation with London would "go a long way to accelerate and sustain the success of the transformation process."

British exports to Nigeria in 2009 passed $2 billion, with oil exports making up $325 million of that total.

Lukman said the British experience with privatization could provide a solid working model for reforms in the Nigerian energy sector, Nigeria's Next news agency reports.

Several international oil producers announced major finds in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. Resurgent militant activity in the Niger Delta, however, threatens to derail an October cease-fire that brought optimism to the oil sector.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the main militant group in the region, claimed responsibility for strikes on oil pipelines recently because the government was slow to react to demands for allocation of the country's oil revenue and other concessions.

Talks with oil producers on extended contracts are overshadowed, meanwhile, by lingering health concerns for the Nigerian president and renewed security issues stemming from a failed Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. passenger jet blamed on a Nigerian national.