March 09, 2009: 12:27 PM ET
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) Monday said a recent militant attack on a Nigeria oil pipeline had forced it to halt deliveries to many customers, in an indication of the worsening security situation in one of Shell’s most important markets.
“This force majeure was called Saturday after an explosion on a pipeline” caused by militants a week before, Shell spokesmanRainer Winzenried said.
The declaration, which protects Shell from lawsuits for not meeting oil deliveries to customers due to actions outside the company’s control, is expected to be in place for the rest of March and all of April, Winzenried said.
He wouldn’t disclose exactly how much production and customers were affected, but a Nigerian oil official said the attack for more than a week disrupted around 50,000 to 100,000 barrels a day of production.
That attack took place on the Escravos pipeline, which sends crude from Shell’s Forcados fields to the Escravos export terminal in the country’s main oil producing region.
The assault follows the end of a ceasefire announced last month by Nigeria’s main militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, and the group’s vow to attack more oil installations.
Upwards of 600,000 barrels a day of Nigerian pumping capacity is currently shut due to militant attacks. Much of that production, operated by the Shell-run government joint-venture, has been closed since early 2006.
The recent attacks, which have also hit the operations of Chevron Corp. (CVX) and Italy’s Eni SpA (E), have prompted Nigeria’s two main oil unions to threaten strikes in a few weeks if the government doesn’t do more to improve security around energy facilities.
-By Spencer Swartz, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9357; spencer.swartz@ dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 03-09-09 1227ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
