BREAKING NEWS, Oil & Gas
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ATTACKS by Niger Delta militants on facilities operated by Eni and Aiteo oil firms have led to a combined loss of 140,000 barrels of crude per day, translating to the loss of about N1.3 billion daily, at an estimated price of $48 per barrel, amounting to $6.72 million or N1.3 billion. The attacks believed to be carried out by the militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers, caused the huge loss from their oilfields in Bayelsa State, according to Eni and Aiteo.
Eni, the Italian energy firm and parent company of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), said its production was cut by 65,000 barrels per day following Friday’s attack on its pipeline in Bayelsa. Earlier attacks in the oilfield on May 18 and 24 had resulted in a shutdown of some 5,200 barrels of the company’s production.
An Eni spokesperson confirmed the development in an email to journalists on Sunday, June 5. “The total deferred production due to the attack is 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent daily. I can confirm that. There is no further impact on the production, since all production from the swamp area had already been stopped days ago,” the email from Eni’s media relations unit said.
Similarly, Aiteo, operator of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line, said the line was shut after it came under attack on May 28 by militants believed to be members of the Niger Delta Avengers. The line conveys crude to Bonny export terminal. The company’s spokesperson, Shola Omole, disclosed that about 75,000 barrels daily production have been deferred as the line remained shut.
Although the report could not obtain figures from Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, the oil firm had placed its oil exports from Bonny export terminal under force majeure. SPDC, which in 2014 sold the 100km Nembe Creek Trunk Line to Aiteo, still relies on the line to lift crude produced from onshore oilfields in Bayelsa State to the Bonny Terminal in Rivers State.
The minister of state for petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, had on Thursday, June 2, said that Nigeria was producing 1.6 million barrels per day which exclude further production outages due to attack on Agip, Chevron, and Shell at the weekend.
As tensions continue to rise in the Niger Delta with the Nigerian military deploying attack aircraft and naval war boats to the region, experts have expressed concerns that the development could affect the implementation of the 2016 budget premised on a daily crude oil production of 2.2 million barrels. However, the Niger Delta Avengers, which has claimed responsibility for most of the recent attacks, has so far rejected dialogue with the federal government. – Vanguard
— Jun 6, 2016 @ 17:58 GMT
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