Nigeria stands
to experience a shortfall in its oil exports earning as Shell Plc said it had
shut down the Nembe Creek Trunk Line, which exports Bonny Light crude oil.
The
company said it shut the trunk line to remove theft points. The managing
director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) said the company was
working to “remove a significant number of oil theft connections and repair any
leaks on the pipeline.
The line,
operated by Aiteo, is one of two along with the Trans Niger Pipeline that
carries Bonny Light crude oil to the export terminal
Exports of
roughly 232,000 barrels per day (bpd) were planned in April, according to
loading programmes, but it was not immediately clear how much of this would be
impacted by the pipeline shutdown. “SPDC will work with the security forces
during shutdown to clear illegal connections on NCTL,” SPDC said. Shell
declined to comment on the impact of the pipeline outage on its operations, but
oil traders said the loading programmes were so far not affected. There have
been widespread loading delays on Nigeria’s Qua Iboe crude oil, with yet
another revised export plan issued on Friday.
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