Shell yesterday shut the Trans Forcados pipeline following a leak that has affected crude receipts into Forcados Terminal.
The company also swiftly declared force majeure on exports of the Forcados crude grace and notified its customers of its inability to fulfill contractual obligations with refineries abroad and other consumers on supply of the crude grade.
The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) operated joint venture, said in a statement that the force majeure on exports from Forcados Terminal was effective as at 3pm Nigerian time.
“The force majeure on exports from Forcados Terminal was effective 15:00hrs, Nigerian time today (September 30, 2015) following a leak on the Trans Forcados Pipeline (TFP) that has affected crude receipts into Forcados Terminal.
“The TFP is operated by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC.),” the statement, issued by SPDC’s Corporate Media Relations Manager, Mr. Precious Okolobo, stated. Six oil and gas exploration and production (E & P) companies, including SPDC, Seplat, Pan Ocean, and Nigerian Agip Oil Company, deliver crude oil to the Forcados Export Terminal in Delta State, through the Trans -Forcados Pipeline.
The Trans Forcados pipeline has a capacity of 150,000 barrels per day. The Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), uses the pipeline to transport around 11,000 barrel per day of crude and 6.5 million cubic feet of gas per day.
Seplat Petroleum uses the pipeline to transport its over 60,000 barrel per day of crude oil output. Despite the fact that the bigger, 28-inch and 48-inch sections of the pipeline are operated by Shell, closure of the pipeline, not only disrupted NPDC crude oil production, but also cut gas supply to power plants in the Niger Delta.
Trans-Forcados Pipeline, which is used by E&P companies operating in the Western Niger Delta to transport crude oil to the 400,000 barrels per day capacity Forcados export terminal, has been the target of attacks by vandals. SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company Plc, which owns 45 per cent stake in Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 4, 38 and 41, and operates these leases under a joint venture with the NPDC, was one of the companies that suffered outage because of the vandalism.
Shell, in July, announced that its Joint Venture (JV) had lifted the force majeure on the Forcados crude oil stream, after it had deferred six cargoes of July loading to August. An earlier force majeure in place for more than two months was lifted in July, according to the company, after it had completed the repairs on the NPDCoperated Trans Forcados Pipeline.
