Nigeria accounted for 27 attacks last year, and Togo reported more attacks in 2012 than in the previous two years combined.

It's the dynamics of these attacks that is especially worrisome.

Strategically, the West Africa region of the Gulf of Guinea is the source of 15 percent of U.S. oil imports, which some analysts believe will increase to 25 percent over the next five years. The region has the fastest rate of discovery of new reserves in the world, and those reserves have become a magnet drawing oil majors from the U.S., Europe and Asia.

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Keywords: transportation management, international trade, supply chain risk management, ocean piracy, Somali piracy, West African ocean piracy