A Chevron Corp. (CVX) unit said late Tuesday it was declaring force majeure on 90,000 barrels a day of its Nigeria gross production after a pipeline was breached in the western part of the Niger Delta.
In an e-mailed statement, Chevron said it “confirms that it has declared a force majeure effective [1 p.m. local time] November 18 through December 31, 2008.”
The comments comments follow reports of an attack on a Chevron pipeline serving the Escravos terminal, in Nigeria’s Delta state, but the company hasn’t disclosed the cause of the breach.
Chevron, which owns 40% of the affected joint-venture, said it had declared force majeure on 36,000 barrels daily on a net basis.
The disruption comes after a September ceasefire decreed by militants seeking better oil revenue redistribution after two years of attacks.
The U.S. oil major said it “is currently assessing the situation while the incident has been reported to relevant government agencies.”
Since January 2006, militant attacks have cut Nigeria’s oil output by more than one quarter. Nigeria’s total production currently stands around 2 million barrels a day, down from 2.6 million barrels in 2006.