An attack on a Nigerian oil terminal resulted in a blast, and the terminal’s operator claimed force majeure, resulting in crude production plummeting by 25,000 bpd at a time when Nigeria is struggling to meet its OPEC+ quota.
According to Nigerian source Premium Times, the parent firm of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Italian major Eni, declared force majeure on Monday on planned oil output at the Brass Terminal.
“An incident occurred near Okparatubo in Bayelsa’s Nembe Local Government Area on the Ogoda/Brass 24 oil line. “A blast caused the event, which resulted in a spill,” Eni stated in a statement obtained by Premium Times.
“All wells connected to that pipeline were immediately shut down,” the business said, adding that “river booms and containment barges were mobilised to mitigate the impact of the incident.”
According to Eni, the blast was caused by an attack on the facility.
Premium Times reports that this was the second attack on an oil infrastructure facility in Nigeria in three weeks, following a similar event at Eni’s Obama flow station.
According to Eni, “Force Majeure has been declared at Brass terminal, Bonny NLNG, and Okpai Power Plant.”
Nigeria, Africa’s largest OPEC producer, has been battling for months to expand its oil production as much as the OPEC+ accord allows. As a result, Nigeria, along with the other OPEC+ members who lack the ability or investment to increase output, has contributed to the tightening of the oil market. Nigeria is also plagued by frequent oil theft, spills, and infrastructure attacks, all of which complicate production and deter investment from the country’s largest oil companies.
According to OPEC’s secondary sources in the Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) for February, Nigeria’s quota under the OPEC+ agreement was 1.701 million bpd, while the country pumped 1.398 million bpd on average last month.
