By Dipo Olowookere
The force majeure declared on Sunday by the management of Aiteo Group, operators of Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL), has led to apprehension.
This is because the situation has led to the reduction on the volume of crude oil produced by the company. The commodity is the major source of export for Nigeria.
It was disclosed that the force majeure was declared as a result of a fire outbreak on the pipeline and efforts are being made to ensure production starts as soon as possible.
“We have been informed of a fire outbreak by our surveillance team comprising the JTF, FSS around NCTL RoW near Awoba [on] April 21, 2019.
“Our Operations Emergency Response team was immediately activated and following its urgent intervention and containment action, we are constrained to shut in injection as well as other related operations into the NCTL. In accordance with standard procedure, we requested the other injectors to do same.
“The NCTL has, hitherto, enjoyed smooth operations preceding this incident founding suspicion that this fire may have occurred through an illegitimate, third party breach of the functionality of the pipeline, critical national asset,” a statement issued by the company spokesperson, Ndiana Matthew, disclosed.
Aiteo said the relevant investigations were continuing while further information about the remote and direct causes of the fire would be communicated as soon as they become available, appealing to “our stakeholders to await further, detailed briefing in due course.”
Adedapo Adesanya