Shell May Miss Nigeria Bonny Oil Sales Through March (Update1)
By Alexander Kwiatkowski and Eduard Gismatullin
Feb. 12 -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, said it may miss deliveries of Bonny Light crude oil from Nigeria through March because of security concerns.
Shell issued a force majeure declaration, allowing it to suspend contractual sales obligations for reasons beyond its control, from Feb. 10 onwards, The Hague-based Shell spokesman Rainer Winzenried said in a phone interview today. He declined to comment if the Bonny force majeure would extend through to April.
“We have some logistical challenges related to the security situation,” Winzenried said. He declined to give any further comments.
Militant attacks on oil pipelines and production facilities have disrupted Nigeria’s crude production since 2006. Groups including the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, have targeted facilities operated by Shell, the biggest foreign producer in the country.
Shell had planned to load three Bonny Light cargoes this month totaling 2.85 million barrels, or 102,000 barrels a day, according to the shipment programs obtained by Bloomberg last month. Approximately the same number of barrels was originally expected to be shipped during March.
Bonny exports had resumed on Jan. 7 after being subject to force majeure since July, when rebel attacks on pipelines and production facilities cut supplies.
Shell said Jan. 29 that its share of overall Nigerian oil and gas production averaged the equivalent of 360,000 barrels a day in 2008. Extraction equivalent to 213,000 barrels a day remained shut in at the end of 2008.
Nigerian crude is typically the light, low-sulfur variety of oil favored by U.S. refiners for the quantity of gasoline it produces.
Earlier this week, Nigeria’s two main oil unions were considering a strike to protest rising insecurity in the Niger Delta.
By Alexander Kwiatkowski and Eduard Gismatullin
Feb. 12 -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, said it may miss deliveries of Bonny Light crude oil from Nigeria through March because of security concerns.
Shell issued a force majeure declaration, allowing it to suspend contractual sales obligations for reasons beyond its control, from Feb. 10 onwards, The Hague-based Shell spokesman Rainer Winzenried said in a phone interview today. He declined to comment if the Bonny force majeure would extend through to April.
“We have some logistical challenges related to the security situation,” Winzenried said. He declined to give any further comments.
Militant attacks on oil pipelines and production facilities have disrupted Nigeria’s crude production since 2006. Groups including the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, have targeted facilities operated by Shell, the biggest foreign producer in the country.
Shell had planned to load three Bonny Light cargoes this month totaling 2.85 million barrels, or 102,000 barrels a day, according to the shipment programs obtained by Bloomberg last month. Approximately the same number of barrels was originally expected to be shipped during March.
Bonny exports had resumed on Jan. 7 after being subject to force majeure since July, when rebel attacks on pipelines and production facilities cut supplies.
Shell said Jan. 29 that its share of overall Nigerian oil and gas production averaged the equivalent of 360,000 barrels a day in 2008. Extraction equivalent to 213,000 barrels a day remained shut in at the end of 2008.
Nigerian crude is typically the light, low-sulfur variety of oil favored by U.S. refiners for the quantity of gasoline it produces.
Earlier this week, Nigeria’s two main oil unions were considering a strike to protest rising insecurity in the Niger Delta.