The United States oil giant Chevron has been forced to cut production in Nigeria by 13 000 barrels per day after a pipeline in an area patrolled by armed militants sprang a leak, a company spokesperson said.
The cause of the damage to the pipeline has not been determined, Michael Barrett said, but it came at a time when separatist guerrilla fighters were sabotaging nearby facilities operated by the Anglo-Dutch major Shell.
Chevron has shut down the 40cm pipeline bringing crude oil from the Makaraba flow station in the Niger Delta swamps, 40km north-west of the oil city of Warri, to the firm’s Escravos export terminal.
”Chevron Nigerian limited has isolated the section of pipe and suspended production at Makaraba as of yesterday,” Barrett said by telephone.
Separately, a Shell company source said militants had continued overnight to dynamite the firm’s evacuated facilities near the Chanomi Creek, just 10km south of the Makaraba pipeline.
Details of the latest damage were unavailable, as the company had pulled staff out from the western delta area for safety reasons.
Since February 18, when heavily armed fighters attacked Shell’s Forcados export terminal and kidnapped nine foreign oil workers, the firm has slashed output by 455 000 barrels per day, 20% of Nigeria’s exports.
Concerns over Nigerian supplies have pushed oil world prices higher. — Sapa-AFP