Niger Delta Militants Force Shell to Shut Down Major Crude Oil Export Line (DETAILS)

Nigeria’s crude oil production suffered fresh set back on Monday as Trans Niger Pipeline, (TNP), which exports about 180,000 barrels of crude oil per day was shut down as a precautionary measure after a fire was seen on the “right of way” at Gio community in Ogoni land.

Unfortunately, this is one of the two pipelines that export Bonny Light crude oil.

TNP transports crude to Bonny Export Terminal and is part of liquid gas evacuation infrastructure, critical for continued domestic power generation (Afam VI power plant) and liquefied gas exports.

According to spokesman for Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC), the operator of the joint venture with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Precious Okolobo, “It was not yet clear whether export supplies will be subject to force majeure. A joint investigation visit will determine the cause and impact of the fire.”

The line is also the right of way for a Bonny-refinery pipeline belonging to the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of NNPC.

A project officer with a local environmental rights group, Kentebe Ibiaridor, said: “The fire is huge and still raging when I left, we do not know the cause of fire yet, whether it is sabotage or system failure."

But on Saturday, the Niger Delta Avengers, a group that has claimed responsibility for most attacks on oil infrastructure, said it had struck a Bonny Light pipeline, ending several weeks of calm.

A spokesman for the militants had said in an emailed statement that the attack on Saturday was in the sea near Bonny island.