Shell, has yesterday disclosed that it has lifted a force Majeure declaration on shipments from its Forcados oil export terminal in Nigeria.
According to the company�s spokeswoman, Eurwen Thomas, enough crude is now available from storage and current production to fulfil its contract,
The spokeswoman also added that there was only a small amount of output from the oilfields, which was capable of pumping about 500,000 barrels per day before the attacks in the Niger Delta that shut production.
This is occurring just on the heels of last week�s report that crude oil production output would increase by 500,000 bpd in 2008.
According to last week�s report, workers are slowly returning to the forcados and EA oil fields closed by attacks, and Shell has already restored about 65,000 bpd of the 477,000bpd output lost in the western Niger Delta, adding that the country hopes to see another 270,000 bpd from Forcados and EA.
�Although, the increase would depend on if the environment is stable and if the Agbami field starts up as scheduled,� the report added.
Chevron�s Agbami FPSO hull, a new offshore oilfield, have a processing capability of 250,000 barrels per day of oil and a storage capacity of 2.15 million barrels of oil and is expected to take off production in June 2008.
According to the reports on monthly Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) output survey, Nigeria pumped a total of 2.16 million bpd in September, down from 2.46 million bpd at the end of 2005 before the latest phase of disruption began. If things go to plan, crude supply could reach 2.66 million bpd by the start of the third quarter.
In the draft budget for 2008, the government has used an average oil production of 2.44 million bpd for the year. The recovery, the report said should provide a windfall for the treasury, but will also present a challenge to OPEC, which has set a 2.16 million bpd supply limit for Nigeria from November and Western companies producing Nigerian oil will face much tougher restrictions if the government decides to comply with its quota. Another downside risk for production would be any government enforcement of a January 2008 deadline to eliminate gas flaring.
Security has improved in Nigeria’s southern oil producing region since the inauguration of President Umaru Yar’Adua in May, when militant groups began a ceasefire to allow for talks with the new government.
However, one prominent armed group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, has threatened to call off the truce over the arrest of one of its leaders last month.
Gunmen killed a Colombian contractor and kidnapped two other foreigners from an industry yard in Port Harcourt in the eastern delta after the threat last month.
But violence in the western delta, where most of Shell’s closed oilfields are located, has dropped sharply.
From 65,000 bpd, and it is expected to raise its supply to the Forcados export terminal in Delta state by about 90,000 bpd in December and another 70,000 bpd in July, the report said.
The company has also begun daily helicopter flights to its 115,000 bpd EA field off the coast of neighboring Bayelsa state, and this is now expected to return by mid-year, it added.
Agbami’s huge floating production facility left South Korea last week and is due to arrive off the Nigerian coast before Christmas in time for a June start-up, the company disclosed.
The FPSO is expected to be moored on the field location approximately 113 kilometers offshore the central area of the Niger Delta in the field located in water depth of approximately 1,500 meters.
Both offshore fields could take several weeks to attain full production.
Nigerian exports will jump again in December 2008 with first oil from Total’s 180,000 bpd Akpo field, although this light-density condensate does not count towards Nigeria’s crude oil supply limit under OPEC rules