Shell, Agip resume production amid increased kidnappings

Shell Petroleum Development Company, said on Monday that it had restored output at its crude gathering point at the Bomu Manifold in Rivers State, which supplies the Bonny Export Terminal.

Output is �back to normal level,� London-based Shell spokeswoman, Eurwen Thomas, said by e-mail.

About 150,000 barrels per day were halted following a community protest last month.

Also, the Nigeria Agip Oil Company, a member of Italy�s Eni SpA, said there would not be any more delays in delivering crude exports from the Brass terminal in Nigeria; almost a month after the company�s operations came under militant attacks.

�Production levels still haven�t returned to normal, said a spokeswoman for the Rome-based company by telephone. She could not immediately say when the force majeure ended or quantify current production.

Force majeure is temporary suspension of production, and a legal step that protects a company from liability when it can�t fulfil a contract for reasons beyond its control.

Eni declared force majeure and cut output by 98,000 barrels a day after militants attacked three pipelines operated by Agip on May 8.

Eni�s Chief Executive Officer, Paolo Scaroni, had said on May 24 that the force majeure would end within a week.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices rebounded on concern that the latest series of kidnappings in Nigeria, Africa�s largest oil producer, may further disrupt supplies.

Four employees of Houston-based, Schlumberger Limited were taken June 2, from a compound in Port Harcourt, said Stephen Whittaker, a spokesman for the company.

On Sunday, gunmen shot dead a driver and abducted six workers of Rusal from housing at the Aluminium Smelter Company, in Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, a company spokeswoman said.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said two days ago that it would halt attacks to persuade President Umaru Yar�Adua to start talks.

There are �geopolitical risks and outages of supply in Nigeria,�� said Harry Tchilinguirian, an analyst with BNP Paribas SA in London. �I don�t think it�s going away, and ultimately as it doesn�t go away�� it will support the premium of Brent crude prices over New York�s West Texas Intermediate blend.

Crude oil for July delivery was little changed at $65.06 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:25 p.m. in London.

Brent crude for July settlement rose as much as 49 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $69.56 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange. The contact traded at $69.52 a barrel in London.

However, crude oil fell earlier as much as 55 cents in New York, after Royal Dutch Shell Plc resumed full output at the Bomu Manifold.

But the resumption did not affect oil prices, as the North Sea dated Brent was unchanged, although disruptions to Nigerian supply affect North Sea prices because the country�s oil is priced in relation to Brent.

Dated Brent for loading within 15 days remained at a premium of 65 cents above cargoes for loading in July, according to data supplied by PVM Oil Associates Limited in London. That works out at $69.72 a barrel, compared with $68.43 on June 1, according to Bloomberg calculations based on PVM data.

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