Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell said on Monday it would not resume normal oil production in Nigeria until the region was safe enough for its workers and facilities.
Nigerian militants freed three foreign oil workers earlier on Monday after five weeks in captivity, but threatened more attacks on oil facilities in the world’s eighth largest crude exporter.
“We will not restart our operations until it is safe to do so,” Shell said in a statement.
The company has shut in 455,000 barrels per day of crude production in Nigeria due to militant attacks.
Shell said it was particularly concerned about the environmental impact from oil spills caused by the attacks.
“In the current security situation, our teams cannot go to those areas to assess the impact of the spills, effect repairs and begin the clean up of spills,” it said.
A total of 630,000 bpd, or about 26 percent of Nigeria’s output, has been cut, mainly due to the violence.
An Eni spokesman reiterated that repairs to its 75,000 bpd-oil pipeline blown up by unknown saboteurs should be complete by the end of the week.