Shell Lifts Force Majeure On Nigeria Bonny Oil Exports
https://nigeriaafrica1.blogspot.com/2012/11/shell-lifts-force-majeure-on-nigeria.html
Royal Dutch Shell lifted on Wednesday its force majeure on Nigeria's benchmark Bonny Light crude oil exports, the company said, easing supply problems for Africa's largest oil producer.
Shell declared force majeure on Bonny exports on October 19 after a fire on a ship being used to steal oil forced the company to shut down its Bomu-Bonny pipeline and defer 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) of production.
The force majeure on Nigerian Forcados crude exports, declared the same day, remains in place. Force majeure means a company will not meet its contractual obligations due to circumstances outside its control.
Nigeria normally exports more than 2 million bpd, but oil spills and flooding over the past month have caused crippling outages.
Forcados production was hit by damage caused by suspected oil thieves tapping into the Trans Forcados Pipeline and the Brass Creek trunkline, Shell said.
Bonny Light and Forcados are two of Nigeria's most important oil grades and in October they represented exports of 427,000 bpd.
Nigerian authorities said last month major oil theft incidents and the country's worst floods in 50 years caused oil output to drop by a fifth, but days later said things were back to normal.
Since then, there have been at least two fresh oil spills.
Exports of Nigeria's top crude stream and benchmark Qua Iboe are delayed by around 12 days. U.S. oil major ExxonMobil (XOM.N) shut a pipeline that feeds Qua Iboe exports on November 9 due to a an oil spill that has spread miles along the coastline.
The force majeure on Nigerian Forcados crude exports, declared the same day, remains in place. Force majeure means a company will not meet its contractual obligations due to circumstances outside its control.
Nigeria normally exports more than 2 million bpd, but oil spills and flooding over the past month have caused crippling outages.
Forcados production was hit by damage caused by suspected oil thieves tapping into the Trans Forcados Pipeline and the Brass Creek trunkline, Shell said.
Bonny Light and Forcados are two of Nigeria's most important oil grades and in October they represented exports of 427,000 bpd.
Nigerian authorities said last month major oil theft incidents and the country's worst floods in 50 years caused oil output to drop by a fifth, but days later said things were back to normal.
Since then, there have been at least two fresh oil spills.
Exports of Nigeria's top crude stream and benchmark Qua Iboe are delayed by around 12 days. U.S. oil major ExxonMobil (XOM.N) shut a pipeline that feeds Qua Iboe exports on November 9 due to a an oil spill that has spread miles along the coastline.
