Shell Lifted Force Majeure on Bonny Export Terminal

SEATTLE (Oil Monster): The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) announced that the previously announced force majeure on its Bonny Crude Oil Export Terminal in Nigeria has been lifted with effect from Wednesday, 15th March, 2023.

The oil giant had declared force majeure on 3rd March, 2022 following significant dip in crude receipts at the terminal, due to thefts and acts of vandalism. These had led to severe oil losses in the country. For instance in August last year, the Nigerian oil output had dipped to an all-time low of 900,000 bpd, which resulted in Nigeria losing the position of Africa’s leading oil producer to Algeria.

The for-profit oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited estimated that the country has been losing 95% of oil production at the Bonny Terminal on account of oil theft and vandalism. The country was losing nearly all the oil output at Bonny, NNPC added.

The joint efforts by the NNPC, private security agencies and government agencies to tackle crude oil theft has led to significant recovery in production over the past few months. The January 2023 data suggests that the oil production climbed higher to 1,336 million barrels per day (bpd), compared with 1,271 million bpd in December 2022.