Day 3 Protest: Shell Shuts 150,000 bpd of Production

Following the Bomu protest that has gone on for three days, Shell has been ramping production, cutting down on 150,000 barrels per day of output.
Villagers from K-Dere have since Tuesday, forcefully occupied the pipeline hub at Bomu, which feeds the Bonny shipping terminal destroying the environment by opening some pressure indicator valves.
According to Teddy Penedibebari, who led the protesters, “the lines are still shut. They are not flowing. We locked up the place and slept here last night.”
He said the protesters have decided not to leave the premises till Shell obliges them their request, which is allocating them contract to supply the company with goods and services.
Report revealed that the same protesters, from the Ogoni area, attacked the same pipeline hub on May 10, and occupied it for six days, forcing a 170,000 bpd closure.
Penedibebari said they demanded contracts worth N50 million, but a local source said the protesters yesterday modified their demand, calling for N200 million in cash. Reacting to the incident, a Shell spokesman said it was “ramping up production” and confirmed that output was still down by 150,000 bpd yesterday.
The company, which hopes that the situation changes very soon, said it had suspended production in Ogoni 14 years ago, because of popular protests, but the area is still criss-crossed by pipelines and many residents are aggrieved about oil spills and what they see as a history of neglect.
Shell had only just resumed normal production levels at its 400,000 bpd Bonny terminal before the villagers attack on Tuesday. Exports remain under a force majeure.
The latest disruption brings the total amount of output shut in in Nigeria to 845,000 bpd, or one-third of capacity.
Meanwhile, the protesters invaded the facility of Trans-Niger pipeline on that same day, which feeds the Bonny crude export terminal, prompting partial shutdown of the company three days ago.
The President, Umaru Yar’Adua, who resumed office two days ago, promised to urgently address crisis in the Niger Delta.

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