The resumption of production at the high-yielding Escravos Terminal follows a month and a half of halted production blamed on militants' attacks on the pipeline running through the oil-rich delta.

"Chevron Nigeria Ltd., operator of the NNPC/Chevron Joint Venture, confirms that the force majeure declared on Nov. 18 through Dec. 31, 2008, on its Escravos Terminal in Delta State has been lifted effective Jan. 1, 2009. Consequently, production and lifting operations have resumed," read a statement sent to United Press International by Chevron this week.

Chevron's Nigerian operation has been beleaguered by continual attacks by militant groups such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.

In June the company declared another force majeure on its oil exports following a particularly destructive attack on one of its installations by Nigerian militants in the delta. Though Chevron claimed at the time that production was not stymied by the attack, Nigerian energy officials estimated the assault cost the U.S. company about 100,000 barrels a day in production.

Production in the delta has dropped considerably in recent years because of a steady increase in militant attacks on oil installations since 2005.

Nigeria's decline in oil production has been blamed predominantly on militant groups like MEND. The delta is home to the vast majority of Nigeria's oil production; however, its residents remain mired in abject poverty.

The country that once dominated oil production in Africa has pumped more than $300 billion worth of crude over the last three decades from the southern delta states, according to estimates.

Nigeria's 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.

Grievances with oil companies operating in the delta also have given rise to labor strife among U.S. and other foreign oil companies operating in the delta, including Chevron, said Rolake Akinola, a senior analyst for West Africa at the London-based consulting firm Control Risks.

Earlier this year Nigeria's largest petroleum workers' union called for the removal of Chevron's managing director, citing allegedly unsafe work conditions and other grievances against the third-largest energy firm in the West African country.

"These kinds of strike threats are a sort of trend (in the Niger Delta)," Akinola told UPI. "That's the cycle we've seen in the oil industry."

Strikes, coupled with attacks on oil installations, have severely hampered production over the last few years, reducing output once estimated at 2.5 million bpd by more than 20 percent.

The company also faced its share of legal problems over allegations that the company colluded with the Nigerian military in the late 1990s to break up a protest at a village in the Niger Delta over Chevron practices.

A lawyer for the villagers in the case, which is being tried in a San Francisco court, said, "Chevron paid, housed, fed, transported and supervised the military and police."

However, following a lengthy trial that included recollections of torture and killings, Chevron was cleared of any wrongdoing.

"We are gratified by the decision of the jurors in this case, who listened to weeks of testimony, weighed all the evidence presented, and arrived at a just and fair verdict," said the company in a statement released following the verdict's announcement in a San Francisco federal court earlier this week.

Laura Livoti, founder of Justice in Nigeria Now, said that despite the ruling in Chevron's favor, the case proved an important point.

"The fact that (the case) made it this far in the process is a victory in and of itself, because it means that we have demonstrated that there is a clear pathway in the U.S. court system for holding corporations accountable to the rule of law," said Livoti.

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