After 12 months of hiatus, Shell resumes oil exports from Bonny terminal

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) says it has resumed oil exportation from the Bonny crude oil export terminal.

SPDC, in a statement issued on Wednesday by Bola Essien-Nelson, its media relations manager, said the resumption follows the lifting of force majeure on oil exports at the facility.

Force Majeure is a legal clause that allows a company to skip contractual obligations in the event of issues beyond its control.

SPDC had declared a force majeure on oil exports due to a blast on a pipeline feeding the terminal on March 3, 2022.

Providing updates on the incident, SPDC said it has lifted the force majeure on its oil cargo from the 1.25 million barrels of oil per day capacity terminal.

“The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), operator of the SPDC joint venture, has lifted the force majeure on Bonny export programme with effect from Wednesday, March 15, 2023,” the statement reads.

“The force majeure was declared on March 3, 2022, following a significant decline in crude receipts at the Bonny Oil and Gas Terminal.”

In October 2022, Shell resumed export operations at the Forcados oil terminal after about three months of inactivity due to oil theft.

In recent years, the country has been grappling with oil losses in the face of operational issues, lingering oil theft, and pipeline vandalism.

In 2022, the country’s oil production was severely impacted even as output fell below 1 million barrels of oil per day in August and September.

In October last year, Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, had said Nigeria loses about 600,000 barrels per day to oil theft.

“The Brass, Forcados, and the Bonny terminals, are all practically doing zero production today; the combined effect is that you have lost 600,000 barrels per day when you do a reality test,” Kyari had said.

However, due to renewed efforts from stakeholders in the oil sector, oil output seems to be steadily improving.

In February 2023, Nigeria’s oil production increased to 1,306,304 bpd.