Friday February 13, 02:28 PM
Shell declares force majeure on Nigeria exports
LAGOS (AFP) - Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) said Friday it has declared force majeure on shipments from its main Nigerian terminal because of increased attacks by insurgents on key facilities.
The Anglo-Dutch oil giant has been a regular target of attacks by militants in southern Nigeria over the past three years, forcing it to shut down some facilities and several times defer contractual obligations to clients.
"SPDC (Shell Petroleum Development Company) has declared force majeure on loadings at Bonny terminal with effect from 18:00 hours on February 10," Shell spokesman in Nigeria, Precious Okolobo, said on Friday.
"The action follows logistics challenges related to the security situation in the area," he said, adding that February and March deliveries might be affected.
Last November, Shell declared force majeure on gas supplies to Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (NLNG) after closing its Soku gas plant to repair a nearby pipeline damaged by thieves.
In January, militants attacked a loading vessel, a tanker and a tugboat at a crude oil platform operated by Shell in Bonny and took eight crew members hostage.
The last three years have seen an increase in attacks and kidnappings targeting oil companies throughout the Niger Delta and in Rivers State in particular.
Some are carried out by militants claiming to be fighting for a larger share of the region's oil wealth for local people, others by criminal gangs out to make ransom money.
One of the main groups claiming a greater local share of the oil and gas wealth is the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which last month called off a four-month-old truce after an army attack.
MEND promised a "hurricane" of attacks in the region in response.
As companies have tightened security around expatriate workers, kidnappers have increasingly turned their attention to local staff and -- an easier target still -- their young children and elderly parents.
Earlier this week, the mother of a Nigerian Shell staffer was kidnapped in Rivers.
Other recent high-profile kidnappings have included the wife of a former oil minister and a nine-year old child seized on his way to school in Rivers capital Port Harcourt. The girl accompanying him was shot by the gunmen.
The country's white-collar oil workers union PENGASSAN last week threatened to pull its members out of Rivers, saying the situation had become intolerable.
PENGASSAN decided to delay the strike, which would have begun on Monday, in order to hold further consultations with its sister union, the blue-collar National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to map out a strategy to face up to the insecurity.
Unrest in the Niger Delta has reduced Nigeria's oil output by more than one quarter, putting pressure on crucial export earnings. Production currently stands around two million barrels a day against 2.6 million barrels in 2006.
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