Nigeria’s hope of improved production may have been re-ignited as a result of the lifting of force majeure on crude exports by Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) from Bonny Light terminal following repairs to a leaking pipeline.
Operational issues have hampered Nigeria’s crude production throughout the second half of this year, with disruption at several other terminals, including Qua Iboe, Forcados, Erha and Brass River.
Nigeria’s production in the last few months has been below budgetary benchmark, dropping to 1.37 million barrels a day in October, 261,000 bpd below its OPEC+ quota.
The Guardian had reported that despite ongoing amnesty and other measures to address crude theft in the Niger-Delta region and over N32 billion paid between January and July on pipeline security and maintenance cost,
Nigeria’s production challenges appear unabated, as frequent pipeline sabotage is expected to see the country’s average crude loss surpass 200,000 barrels a day. The latest monthly report of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) also showed that Nigeria’s rig count slumped to nine from 11.
