Crude oil production in Nigeria has suffered a massive blow with the latest attack by Niger Delta militants amidst the crisis of recession in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s crude oil production suffered fresh set back Monday as Trans Niger Pipeline, (TNP), which exports about 180, 000 barrels of crude oil per day was shut down as a precautionary measure after a fire was seen on the “right of way” at Gio community in Ogoni land, one of the two pipelines that export Bonny Light crude oil.
TNP transports crude oil to the Bonny Export Terminal and is part of the liquid gas evacuation infrastructure, critical for continued domestic power generation (Afam VI power plant) and liquefied gas exports according to the Vanguard.
According to the spokesman for Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC), the operator of the joint venture with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Precious Okolobo, “It was not yet clear whether export supplies will be subject to force majeure. A joint investigation visit will determine the cause and impact of the fire.”
The line is also the right of way for a Bonny-refinery pipeline belonging to the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of NNPC.
A project officer with a local environmental rights group, Kentebe Ibiaridor, said:
“The fire is huge and still raging when I left, we do not know the cause of fire yet, whether it is sabotage or system failure.
Bonny Light crude is also exported through the Nembe Creek Trunk Line.
On Saturday, the Niger Delta Avengers, a group that has claimed responsibility for a string of attacks on Nigerian oil infrastructure this year, said it had
struck a Bonny Light pipeline, ending several weeks of calm under a ceasefire with the government.