Eni stops 65,000 barrels per day crude production after pipeline attack in Bayelsa

Eni stops 65,000 barrels per day crude production after pipeline attack in Bayelsa

Eni, the parent company of Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC, said the oil firm’s production had been cut short by 65,000 barrels per day following Friday’s attack on its pipeline in Bayelsa.

Earlier attacks in the oilfield on May 18 and 24 resulted in shutdown of some 5,200 barrels of the Eni’s equity share of oil output.

A spokesperson for Eni confirmed the development in a short e-mail response to NAN on Sunday.

“The total deferred production due to the attack is 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent daily

“I can confirm that. There is no further impact on production, since all production from the swamp area has already been stopped days ago,” the e-mail from Eni’s Media Relations Unit said.

According to crude production figures provided by the oil firm, the country is losing about 3.12 million dollars in revenue each day the NAOC operated facility remains out of production.

Also, Shola Omole, the spokesman for Aiteo, operator of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line which came under attack by Niger Delta Avengers on May 28, said the line which conveyed crude to Bonny export terminal had been shut.

Mr. Omole said some 75,000 barrels daily production was deferred as the line remained out of service.

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, said on Thursday that Nigeria was producing 1.6 million barrels of crude per day which excludes further production outages due to attack on Agip, Chevron and Shell facilities.

A militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers, has claimed responsibility for most of the recent attacks. The group rejected dialogue with the federal government calling instead for a Niger Delta republic.

The Nigerian military has vowed to deal with the militants and has deployed attack aircraft, and Naval war boats to the region.

NAN