Clouds are forming in Nigeria

The prospect of further violence in the Niger Delta risks undermining the country's efforts to woo investors back to the hydrocarbons sector with improved legislation

After a period of relative calm in the Niger Delta, Nigeria's oil production has risen close to the 1.8m-barrels-a-day cap imposed under Opec's current quota system, while progress on new legislation governing the sector prompted talk of an improved investment climate. But an announcement in early November by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), the most high-profile militant group in the region, that it was abandoning a 14-month long ceasefire, has raised the prospect of a return to the way things were in 2016. During that year, attacks on oil and gas infrastructure halted exports from some of the principal terminals and at times cut production by more than a third. The NDA have also threatened