LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Royal Dutch Shell PLC warned Tuesday that it won’t be able to make its estimated production for two types of oil pumped from Nigeria, largely blaming attacks on its pipelines by thieves wanting to steal crude.
Shell said in a statement it had declared a “force majeure” warning Friday for shipments of its Bonny and Forcados crude oil — meaning it is impossible for the company to cover the promised supply from the field. Those two types of crude represent a major chunk of the oil produced in Nigeria by Shell, long the dominant foreign oil company in the West African nation.
While flooding had affected its Bonny operations, Shell said attacks on the pipelines of its local subsidiary caused the majority of its problems. A ship containing fuel stolen from its Bomu-Bonny pipeline caught fire alongside the pipe, causing damage, Shell said. Attacks also occurred on its Trans-Forcados and Brass Creek pipelines, the company said.
The company said it was working to repair the pipelines, but gave no estimate about when the lines would be running at capacity again.
The thefts, locally called “bunkering,” see crude later get sold into the black market or cooked into crude gasoline or diesel at makeshift refineries that dot the oil-rich Niger Delta. Shell officials previously have said as much as 150,000 barrels of crude a day is being stolen.
The bunkering likely continues because those in power in Nigeria personally benefit from the theft. A U.S. diplomatic cable leaked last year quoted a Nigerian official as saying that politicians, retired admirals and generals and the country’s elite all take part.
Shell produced about 800,000 barrels of oil a day last year, with numbers rising as militancy in the region dropped off after a government-sponsored amnesty program in 2009. However, violence and kidnappings still occur in the region about the size of Portugal.
Nigeria, which produces more than 2 million of barrels of oil a day, is a top crude oil supplier to the U.S.
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Online:
Royal Dutch Shell PLC: www.shell.com
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Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
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: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
