Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC) had resumed crude oil exports at the Forcados Oil Terminal. The resumption of operations at the 400,000bpd export terminal came ahead of the October 30 timeline for completion of the repair.
A spokesman of Shell Nigeria, Mr. Bamidele Odugbesan, gave assurance that “essential repairs at Forcados Oil Terminal are complete and export operations have resumed on October 20, 2022”.
Earlier, the Shell Petroleum Development Company’s Media Relations Manager, Abimbola Essien-Nelson, had last week disclosed in a statement that repair works on the Forcados Oil Terminal would be completed by the end of the month.
She said that “In addition to the repairs, we are working to remove and clamp theft points on the onshore pipelines to ensure full crude oil receipt at the terminal,”
She adde that “SPDC gives priority to the removal of active illegal connections and to illegal connection points that have leaks. This scheduled programme is continuous, as new illegal connections are identified during surveillance of the pipelines.
“An example of such illegal connection is that on the onshore section of the 48-inch Forcados Export Line which is currently not active and has no sign of leak at the interconnection point.”
Essien-Nelson reiterated SPDC’s commitment to running its assets safely, reliably and in accordance with globally accepted standards.
Forcados Oil Terminal is located in the western Niger Delta region with the capacity to export 400,000 bpd of crude oil per day. This facility receives crude oil from the Forcados Oil Pipeline System which is the second largest pipeline network after the Bonny Oil Pipeline System in the eastern Niger Delta. Thus, the shutdown of this Terminal for repair has resulted in shutting down of about 20 oil fields in the region
In his remark, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mallam Mele Kyari, had hinted that the country expected to add 500,000 bpd to its output by the end of November, due to resumption of activities at the Trans-Forcados export Terminal and Trans-Niger pipeline (TNP).
The TNP, with a capacity of about 180,000 bpd and the Aiteo-operated Nembe Creek Trunkline (NCTL), are the two major pipelines in the eastern Niger Delta that transport Bonny Light crude oil to the Bonny Export Terminal.
