Crude oil prices jumped to record levels above $117/barrel after indigenous Nigerian rebels attacked three oil pipelines and unknown persons fired a rocket at a Japanese oil tanker in the Middle East.

Oil jumped above $116/barrel after the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) announced its sabotage of an oil pipeline at the Bonny Terminal on April 18. Prices took another hit after Royal Dutch Shell announced that the attack would force it to cut Nigerian exports by 169,000 barrels a day, defaulting on a number of oil contracts.

On April 21, MEND claimed responsibility for attacking two more pipelines, the Soku-Buguma and Buguma-Alakiri pipelines:

“On Monday, April 21, 2008 at 0100 and 0310 Hrs commandos from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in continuation of Operation Cyclone ( the crippling of the Nigerian oil export industry) attacked two major oil pipelines in Rivers state of Nigeria located at Isaka River and Abonnema River (close to Idama flow station). The pipelines may belong to Shell and Chevron.”

Shell confirmed the sabotage.

The same day, a Japanese oil tanker was attacked by a missile fired from a rocket launcher in a small boat in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Yemen, a major oil shipping route. No one was injured, but hundreds of gallons of fuel were lost.

The two announcements pushed worldwide oil prices once again to record highs.