Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday 150 000 barrels per day of production at a key Nigerian oil terminal were cut after villagers sabotaged pipelines.
A Shell spokesperson said community members attacked some oil pipelines connected to the Bonny Light crude terminal on Tuesday, prompting the partial shutdown of output on the Trans-Niger pipeline.
”Youths from the K-Dere community started to spoil the environment by opening some pressure indicator valves. Consequently, we had to shut in some of the oil production,” he said.
A wave of unrest in Nigeria, the world’s eighth largest oil exporter, has now reduced the country’s crude shipments by 845 000 bpd, or nearly one-third of total capacity.
This is the second attack this month by the K-Dere community in Ogoniland, an area of the Niger Delta where Shell suspended oil production 14 years ago.
Earlier this month, villagers occupied the pipeline complex forcing Shell to cut output by 170 000 bpd.
Shell had just resumed normal production levels at its 400 000 barrel Bonny Light terminal before Tuesday’s attack. Exports remained under a force majeure declaration, allowing companies to suspend contractual obligations.
A Shell spokesperson said 30% of the 150 000 bpd outage was Shell-operated with the rest controlled by other oil companies. – Reuters