03 June 2013, Yenagoa – Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa says oil derivation revenue accruable to the state would drop from May due to the activities of crude oil theft.
Dickson had in his monthly revenue briefing on April 19 announced that the state got N24 billion from the Federation Account in March 2013. Shell and Agip have both suspended oil exports from most of its oil fields in the state because of unsustainable levels of oil theft in the state.
Both firms shut in a combined volume of 190,000 barrels per day of crude oil production from March 2013.
According to figures released by Mr Igo Weli, General Manager, Nigerian Content Development, Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, on Friday in Yenagoa, the oil firm has been losing 150,000 barrels of crude export since April 15.
Shell, he said, was compelled to shut down the Nembe Creek Trunk Line due to sabotage by oil thieves to effect repairs on the facility.
Weli, who spoke at a seminar organised for journalists, express regrets that the development would affect the derivation revenue accruable to Bayelsa in the coming months.
He said that the oil firm could not confirm a start-up date for the shut trunk line as repair work was still ongoing.
Also, Italian oil firm Eni, which operates in Nigeria as Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), had said it authorised the suspension of operations on March 22, and subsequently declared ‘Force Majeure’ on its oil output from the facility on March 23.
‘Force Majeure’ is a legal notice that absolves an oil firm of liabilities for failure to meet supply obligations to crude buyers due to circumstances beyond the firm’s control
“Eni confirms that during the night between 21 and 22 March, the company has declared force majeure and ordered the closure of its onshore activities in the Swamp Area, located in Bayelsa.
“The decision was made due to the intensified bunkering, consisting in the sabotage of pipelines and the theft of crude oil, which has recently reached unsustainable levels regarding both personal safety and damage to the environment. Sustainability is for Eni a priority in Nigeria as in all the countries in which it operates,” the statement said.
According to the statement, the firm produced about 40,000 barrels of crude oil equivalent daily from the shut facilities. The ‘force majeure’ earlier declared by Shell on its crude export from the shut Nembe crude line is still in force.
