LAGOS: Shell said on Monday warned on crude exports from Nigeria’s Forcados terminal after production was disrupted by a pipeline spill.
The Nigerian subsidiary of the Anglo-Dutch oil company, SPDC, said it declared a force majeure on Forcados liftings following “the disruption in production caused by the spill on the Forcados terminal subsea crude export pipeline.”
Force majeure is a legal term that frees a company from any contractual obligation due to circumstances beyond its control.
Although Shell did not disclose the volume of production shut-in, Forcados is one of Nigeria’s main export terminals.
Shell is a major oil operator in Nigeria, Africa’s largest producer with an average of two million barrels per day.
Shell has often blamed sabotage for most of the spills in the Niger delta.
Oil thieves usually vandalise pipelines to siphon crude which is sold in barges to illegal buyers on the high seas.
Nigeria is estimated to be losing some $6 billion annually in the illegal crude oil business.
