Shell says some progress fixing Nigeria oil pipeline
Shell’s Nembe Creek trunkline, located at Kula in Rivers State in the Niger Delta, was sabotaged in late July.
The Anglo-Dutch oil major declared force majeure on Bonny Light crude exports to free itself from meeting its contractual obligations through to September.
“Repair work has seen some progress but the force majeure is still in place. The production is still at a reduced level,” a Shell spokesman said.
He did not specify the current production level.
Oil traders said loading programmes showed about 200,000 barrels of Bonny Light would be exported in October.
The volume would be an increase from about 159,000 bpd in September but it was still about the half of the grade’s normal production level of about 400,000 bpd.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which has led a campaign of violence against the oil sector since early 2006, claimed responsibility for two pipeline attacks in July, including the Nembe Creek line.
Both pipelines are operated by Shell and are connected to the Bonny export terminal. Shell only confirmed the damage to the Nembe Creek line.
Shell is the worst hit by militant sabotage in Nigeria.
Repeated attacks on oil facilities have halted about a fifth of oil supplies from the world’s eighth largest oil exporter, contributing to a rise in oil prices above $100 this year.
(Reporting by Ikuko Kao, editing by Anthony Barker)