Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Apr. 28 -- Nigeria is suffering a shutdown of nearly 70% of its oil production and exports due to a workers' strike, a recent militant attack, and other security-related problems.
Production and exports of some 866,000 b/d of crude oil have come to a standstill for ExxonMobil subsidiary Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited as a strike by workers at the company entered its fifth day.
"As we speak, no production is going on at Mobil, and the export terminal at Eket has been shut down," said George-Olumoroti Olusola, Mobil branch chairman of the Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Nigeria's main militant group said an attack it carried out on a Royal Dutch Shell PLC oil facility on Apr. 24 shut in 350,000 b/d of crude oil production rather than 170,000 b/d as reported earlier.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) released a statement saying Nigerian Shell sources had informed it that the Nigerian government didn't want the larger production loss figure disclosed.
A Shell spokesman declined to disclose how much oil flow was affected by the rebel attack. "We aren't releasing figures today," he said. "We are looking to soon start repairs and to continue with the recovery of the spoiled oil."
If true, the rebel allegation would push Nigeria's total production shutin to some 1.716 million b/d or just under 70% of the country's output capacity of 2.5 million b/d when added to the 866,000 b/d from Mobil and a further 500,000 b/d already announced by oil minister Odein Ajumogobia as lost due to "security issues" in the Niger Delta.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
