Shell’s Nigerian production disrupted by fires, pipeline breaches

Fuel Fix ^ | Tom Fowler | June 14, 2011

[thackney]

Royal Dutch Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary said it may not be able to meet its obligations for delivering Bonny Light crude in June and July due to man-made leaks and fires on its Trans Niger Pipeline.

Shell declared a force majeure on shipments of Bonny Light on Monday, saying production on the pipeline that links oil production throughout the country was disrupted repeatedly.

Government and company investigators found leaks caused by hacksaw cuts last week, which have since been repaired.

The pipeline was also affected by five separate fire incidents on both the 24-inch and 28-inch lines in Bodo, Bera, Biera and Mogho all in Ogoni land, on June 9. Oil flow was stopped immediately and all the fires were extinguished by June 11.

“The leaks and fires show a worrying trend not only on the TNP but also on our facilities elsewhere,” said Babs Omotowa, Vice President HSE, Infrastructure & Logistics for Shell Sub Saharan Africa. “Sadly, the trend is continuing unabated. At end April, we recorded more than 35 sabotage spills.”

Omotowa said the company continues to upgrade facilities, replace pipelines and improve oil spill response systems.

“But no matter how much we improve our performance, until the activities of oil thieves and illegal refiners are brought to an end, the vast majority of oil spills in the Niger Delta will continue,” Omotowa said.

Oil theft has been responsible for the most of the oil spills in Nigeria, according to past reports. The oil is usually stolen by illegal refiners who turn it into fuels.

In March Nigeria’s military said it destroyed 500 illegal oil refineries along the creeks of the delta region in a single raid.

Bonny Light crude it used, in part, by East Coast U.S. refiners. News of the Force Majeure sent prices for gasoline deliveries to New York Harbor up slightly on Tuesday.

[JerseyHighlander]

The Ogoni has gotten smart in the last 5 years.
THey have gone from local strongmen extorting relatively small concessions from oil companies, such as a new school building, infirmary, or fishing boats, to what is now a umbrella group of western University educated and military trained young leaders working inside, outside and parallel to an umbrella group that uses every Ogoni stakeholder group as part of their overarching campaign to extract permanent revenue sharing concessions from the oil producers and their ethnic rivals in the capital region who have exploited the Ogoni for decades.

There is no gong back to outright stealing oil from the marsh people on the delta, ...

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks thackney.

Government and company investigators found leaks caused by hacksaw cuts last week, which have since been repaired. The pipeline was also affected by five separate fire incidents on both the 24-inch and 28-inch lines in Bodo, Bera, Biera and Mogho all in Ogoni land, on June 9. Oil flow was stopped immediately and all the fires were extinguished by June 11.