Don't Miss


Home   >   Business   >   Industries   >   Energy   >   Shell declares force majeure on Bonny Light exports, NLNG gas supply

Shell declares force majeure on Bonny Light exports, NLNG gas supply

By on September 25, 2013

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), on Monday evening, said that it could not meet it contractual agreement with the importers of its Bonny Light Crude grade from Nigeria and the gas supply to the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG).

The company, in a statement, declared force majeure on Bonny Light exports and gas supply to NLNG stating that this declaration was “effective today (September 23).”

This force majeure, the company said was “after it shut down the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) for repair of new crude oil theft leaks at Bodo West and Oloma. Some 150,000 barrels of oil and 500 million standard cubic feet of gas per day are deferred.”

The TNP has been repeatedly targeted and closed down five times since early July due to multiple leaks from crude theft connections.

“SPDC is working to repair and reopen the line as soon as possible,” the statement read.

It would be recalled that Shell at the weekend again shut down the 150,000 barrels per day Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP), barely a week after it reopened the facility.

This development underscored the huge challenges faced by Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil exporter.

Leaks from crude oil theft on the Trans Niger Pipeline in Nigeria have continued, causing a further shut-in of Bonny Light grade oil, Shell said.

It had announced on Monday that the 150,000 bpd pipeline re-opened, prompting speculation that a force majeure may be lifted.

An estimated 100,000 barrels per day, bpd, of oil was stolen from pipelines in the Niger Delta in the first quarter of this year, the report by London-based Chatham House said, not including the unknown quantities stolen from export terminals.

Shell’s statement said that the latest shut-in had occurred on Wednesday 18 Sept “following reports of a leaking crude theft point at Bodo West in Ogoniland.”

 

 

[Daily Independent]