The Delta State Government and the management of Shell Petroleum Development Company have disagreed on the resumption of crude oil lifting at the abandoned Forcados Terminal of the Dutch oil major in the state.
While the state government announced Shell�s return to its production facilities, the company said its return was only tentative and did not mean a return of production activities.
The crude oil exportation facility, sited in Burutu Local Government Area of the state, was shut in February 2006, following the upsurge in bloody crisis in the Niger Delta region.
The Dutch oil firm has not exported crude oil through the terminal since then.
The situation was worsened by the closure of all production platforms servicing the terminal in the western Niger Delta fields located in Bayelsa and Delta States.
The action resulted in production shut-in of 477,000 barrels of crude per day in the area since February 2006.
But Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, on Tuesday, said normal lifting of crude oil for exportation had resumed at the terminal after 17months of inactivity.
�Shell has re-entered its shut facilities in the creeks of the state. In fact, lifting of crude oil started at the Forcados Terminal of the oil multinational this week after it was shut for over one year.
�This is a sign that peace has returned to the creeks and swamps of the state to pave the way for unhindered oil exploitation and exploration. The oil majors and their service companies should take advantage of this development by resuming their operations in the areas in full blast,� he said.
Uduaghan, who spoke with newsmen in Warri on Tuesday, urged the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to follow the example of the Dutch firm by quickly mobilising to the creeks to repair the pipeline, which conveys crude oil to Warri.
The pipeline, identified as System 2C, supplied crude oil for the operations of the Warri and Kaduna refineries, before it was vandalised by the Niger Delta militants, also in February 2006.
Uduaghan said the excuses of insecurity by the management of the NNPC were no longer acceptable by his government.
However, the management of the Dutch firm, on Wednesday, explained that the operations carried out at the terminal which Uduaghan referred to was casual and tentative.
SPDC�s spokesman, Mr. Precious Okolobo, who was contacted by our correspondent by the phone, said the terminal was shut again after only one loading.
�We loaded at the terminal once and shut the place again. The operations remained suspended in the place [the terminal] for now. It was just one loading of a previously agreed commitment. We have not resumed operations in the western Niger Delta, what I can tell you is that we only lifted once from oil in storage,� he said.
Okolobo said the oil firm was still working out modalities for a safe re- entry into the shut fields in collaboration with the government at all levels and their agencies. He added that the management was presently pre-occupied with the provision of life support facilities in the company�s host communities in the western Niger Delta.
Jul262007