OREANDA-NEWS. Shell has declared force majeure on Bonny Light exports, following damage to the Nembe Creek Trunk (NCT) line in the Niger delta, amid a growing threat to Nigeria's oil industry from armed rebels.

SPDC, Shell's joint venture Nigerian subsidiary, declared force majeure on Bonny Light exports effective from yesterday after a leak forced the closure of the NCT line for repairs. Shell did not say what caused the leak.

SPDC gas supply to the 22mn t/yr Bonny Island LNG production facility was continuing, Shell said.

The 100 kilometre NCT pipeline, which was commissioned in 2010 and has a capacity of 600,000 b/d, carries Shell-operated Bonny Light crude to the Bonny export terminal.

The halt in Bonny Light loadings, which were scheduled for around 210,000 b/d on seven cargoes this month, comes less than a week after Chevron said 35,000 b/d of its Nigerian net crude production had been halted by an attack on its offshore Okan facility, and three months after Shell suspended production of Forcados.

The Niger delta has seen an upsurge in violence targeting the oil sector partly as a result of President Muhammadu Buhari's efforts to clamp down on rampant oil theft and prosecute corruption since his election in March last year. His administration has targeted high-profile former rebel leaders.

Traders say staff have been evacuated from Shell's offshore Bonga platform because of the heightened security threat from militants, but that production has not yet been affected. Shell declined to comment on its Bonga operations, and further details of the evacuation have yet to emerge.

But force majeure remains in place on the Shell-operated Forcados stream, after a pipeline was blown up in February, when around 250,000 b/d was due to load.

In April, Nigeria produced 1.87mn b/d. But if the recent output cuts continue throughout May, Nigerian production will hit its lowest level for some 22 years.