By Dipo Olowookere
Operators of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL), Aiteo Eastern E&P Company Limited, have shut down the pipeline, which exports Bonny Light crude oil, one of the grades of the commodity sold on the international market by Nigeria.
The pipeline, which was shutdown, is one of two that exports Bonny Light. As a result of this, the terminal is currently loading only from the Trans Niger Pipeline, which is operated by Anglo-Dutch oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC).
A report by Reuters on Tuesday quoted a spokesman of Aiteo as confirming the development, pointing out that a force majeure was declared last week.
Nigeria’s Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL), which exports Bonny Light crude oil, was shut down and placed under force majeure last week, a spokesman for operator Aiteo said on Tuesday, the report said.
However, it was stressed that ‘the spokesman did not give a reason for the shutdown.”
This is not the first time the Nembe pipeline would be shut down this year.
In May 2019, barely two days after it announced the reopening of the oil facility, Aiteo has announced another force majeure after some youths in the oil-rich Niger Delta region disrupted its activities during a protest.
Aiteo had then said, “These disturbances disrupt our operations and lead to production deferment, which affects not just the company but revenues accruing to the government and people of Nigeria.”
Business Post reports that as at the time of filing this report (4:35pm Nigerian Time), the Bonny Light crude oil was trading at $68.04 per barrel, up by $7.05 or 11.56 percent.
The price of crude oil has been on the rise since Saudi Arabia’s Aramco Oil suffered drone attacks over the weekend. This reduce global oil output by 5 percent and affected about 50 percent of the gulf nation’s total production.
Adedapo Adesanya