In the Niger Delta, the pirates in armed speedboats attack tankers and work with militants in the delta's swamplands who steal around 150,000 barrels a day from oil installations or pipelines, around 5 percent of Nigeria's daily production. West Africa's burgeoning oil industry has a pirate problem. On Jan. MORE

Researchers at Tohoku University in Japan have developed a new system combining hydrodynamic cavitation with sodium percarbonate (SP) (an environmentally benign oxidation reagent) for the efficient pre-treatment of biomass. MORE

Aspergillus niger, shown here with its DNA lit up in green, is a fungus that can be used on an industrial scale to produce enzymes or chemicals such as citric acid. niger is thus a well understood fungal fermentation process. niger strain used in the study ( A. niger. MORE

Shell has shut three flow stations after its oil pipeline in the Niger Delta was sabotaged. Recent attacks have resulted in $1bn a month in lost revenue. Source: bbc.com MORE

are using three strains of fungi: Aspergillus niger , Penicillium simplicissimum and Penicillium chrysogenum. A team of researchers University of South Florida is using naturally occurring fungi to drive an environmentally friendly recycling process to extract cobalt and lithium from tons of waste batteries. The researchers presented their work at the 252 nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Philadelphia. MORE

It may struggle to do that with the recent shuttering of the Trans Niger Pipeline, potential strikes from oil workers unions and the announcement from the Niger Delta Avengers that attacks will resume this year. by Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com. Oil prices faltered at the start of the second week of the year, as fears set in about a rapid rebound in US shale production. MORE

Growing political instability in Libya, as the LNA is targeting control of the country, or the re-emergence of the Niger Delta insurgency, will put a cap on increases. by Cyril Widdershoven for Oilprice.com. OPEC exports have come under pressure this week from technical threats to oil fields, with Saudi Arabia’s Manifa problems grabbing the headlines. MORE

Nigerian production hit 30-year lows in May as militancy continued in the country’s oil rich Niger Delta. Barely 10 days after a 30-day ceasefire deal with the Nigerian government, militants claimed a round of fresh attacks in the Niger Delta at the start of July, marking a major setback after weeks of respite. MORE

Several of the rivers channeling less water serve large populations, including the Yellow River in northern China, the Ganges in India, the Niger in West Africa and the Colorado in the southwestern United States. The change in runoff inferred from streamflow records worldwide between 1948 and 2004, with bluish colors indicating more streamflow and reddish colors less. MORE