Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell on Friday said it has deferred shipments of Bonny Light crude oil for two months due to a fire blamed on oil thieves that has badly hampered production in the Niger Delta.
Shell “declared force majeure on Bonny Light lifting for May and June 2010, effective… May 7,” spokesman Tony Okonedo said in a statement.
Force majeure is a legal clause allowing producers to miss contracted deliveries because of circumstances beyond their control. Bonny Light crude is a type of Nigerian oil.
“This is as a result of production deferment from the leaks and fire incidents which occurred on the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) on May 5,” the spokesman said, adding that repairs were underway to resume production as soon as possible.
The leaks and fire were caused by sabotage due to oil theft, forcing closure of the pipeline, which runs through the eastern part of the Niger Delta, the company said.
“There were several leaks and two major fires on sections of the Trans Niger Pipeline at Bodo West and Bera in Ogoniland,” another spokesman, Precious Okolobo, said earlier.
“We noticed the leaks on Wednesday and it was serious enough to warrant our shutting down the affected crude pipeline,” Okolobo said.
Shell “is fighting the fires and stopping the leaks, while carrying out necessary repairs,” he said.
No further details were given on the loss suffered or production shut in.
Between 20,000 and 100,000 barrels of crude are stolen daily in Nigeria, the world’s eighth largest oil producer, Shell said recently.
Shell withdrew from the Ogoniland sector of the Niger Delta in 1993 following protests and attacks on its facilities by suspected ethnic Ogoni militants.
The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) has been campaigning for years against what it says is the destruction of the ecosystem by foreign oil companies operating in their territory without adequate compensation.
A special military unit deployed to the southern oil-rich region said that it is intensifying its fight against oil theft and sabotage of facilities.