Shell pipeline attacked in Nigeria

A pipeline owned by an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell was reportedly attacked by suspected militants in Nigeria’s Delta.

Reuters reported there was a blast at the Trans Ramos Pipeline, a Shell joint venture with the Shell Petroleum Development company (SPDC), near Odimodi in the Nigerian Delta, around 1am on Sunday.

Local militants have attacked oil and energy facilities over the past few months, which caused production to tumble. At the beginning of the year, the pipeline produced 2.2m barrels of oil per day and this was cut by around 70,000 barrels of oil per day.

It was reported that residents said they heard a loud explosion and that oil was spilled.

Shell said it was investigating the incident and the pipeline had been closed since a leak on the Forcados export line, which transports the oil, since 14 February.

Nigeria is a major oil producing country and is a member of the Organisation for the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The country is facing economic difficulties and calls to diversify its economy so as not to be dependent on oil as the price of oil falls, as it can no longer rely on oil to supply two-thirds of government revenue.

Africa’s largest economy is stretched, by fighting Boko Haram in the north and the Niger Delta Avengers in the south.

On the 16 June, the Niger Delta Avengers claimed an attack on Shell’s Forcados terminal, for a greater share of revenues. Its first attack was on an underwater pipeline at the terminal in February.

Shares in Shell fell 1.18% to 1921.14p at the close.