Reuters) – Unknown attackers blew up a Nigerian crude oil pipeline operated by Royal Dutch Shell at the Forcados export terminal on Thursday, industry sources said.
The dynamite attack forced Shell to reduce output by less than 50,000 barrels per day, they said. Shell is gradually restoring Forcados production after militant attacks in Feb. 2006 and had been producing about 70,000 bpd before this latest explosion.
“A crude oil pipeline has been blown up by unknown persons near Ogulagha village at Shell’s Forcados terminal,” an industry source said, adding that dynamite was used and a large volume of oil spilled at the site in the southern state of Delta.
A Shell spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Having begun trading in negative territory, oil futures in New York briefly jumped by about $1 to $94.64 per barrel on news of the latest threat to supply from the world’s eighth-largest exporter, but subsided to $94.06 by 1043 GMT, down 3 cents on the day.