Nigeria’s Oil Production to Get Boost as Shell Resumes Export at 400,000bpd Forcados Terminal Month End Peter Uzoho After months of under-production and heavy dip in foreign exchange earnings from oil export due to crude theft and vandalism, Nigeria’s
After months of under-production and heavy dip in foreign exchange earnings from oil export due to crude theft and vandalism, Nigeria’s oil production is set to rise again as Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited hinted yesterday that its 400,000 barrels per day Forcados Oil Terminal would resume export operations by the end of this month.
Shell had declared a force majeure on the Forcados Oil Terminal Offtake Programme due to integrity compromise through constant oil theft, which it said posed an “existential threat”. “An example of such illegal connection is on the onshore section of the 48” Forcados Export Line, which is currently not active and has no sign of leak at the interconnection point.”
“The Trans Forcados Pipeline is the major trunk line, into which feed multiple branches from onshore fields. At the Forcados River manifold, its capacity is 850,000 b/d,” and was hitherto by Shell until 2012. SPDC gives priority to the removal of active illegal connections and to illegal connection points that have leaks. This scheduled programme is continuous as new illegal connections are identified during surveillance of the pipelines.