The issue of piracy has been rearing its ugly head more and more frequently in West Africa throughout 2011, with 46 incidents reported in the year to date to the International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre, compared to just 27 in the whole of 2010. Of course, not all of these incidents involve OSVs or other vessels connected with the oil and gas industry, but it is nevertheless an indicator of how risky it has become to operate in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea. Insurers are taking their lead from maritime experts and have already added areas of Nigeria's waters to the high risk zone, meaning that the already high operating costs for vessels in this region could increase even further, depending on where they need to work.
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