Royal Dutch Shell has extended its force majeure on Nigerian Bonny Light crude oil exports, it said on Friday.
The action, freeing the company from contractual obligations, was extended because of security concerns in the oil-rich Niger Delta region in Nigeria and because the Anglo-Dutch oil major had found more leaks at a Bonny Light pipeline, a Shell spokesman said.
“We have found more leaks at the pipeline. So repair works became more complicated than we had thought. This is also because of the security situation,” the spokesman said.
Shell did not give a specific date for ending the action, first declared after sabotage to the Nembe Creek pipeline in July and initially in effect to the end of September.
The escalation of violence by militant rebels in the Niger Delta this year has repeatedly crippled oil supplies from Nigeria, which exports about 2 million barrels of oil a day.
The loss of high quality crude from the world’s eighth largest oil exporter helped push oil prices to record highs above $147 a barrel in July.
Shell, the operator of Bonny Light, is the worst hit by the rebel attacks.
October loading programmes show Bonny Light exports will average about 197,000 bpd for the month, about half the grade’s normal production, prompting oil traders to expect an extension of the force majeure after September.
Bonny Light production should be about 400,000 bpd, if there are no problems. But export programmes have shown that output has not recovered to that level this year.
Another Nigerian crude, Brass River, has returned to its normal loading schedule in October, having experienced repeated loading delays in the recent months, traders said.