Forcados to remain shut contrary to govt promise

The last may not have been heard of the crisis rocking the economy, as Nigeria’ Forcados crude oil terminal, a major export oil facility, expected to be back for use will remain shut till September.
Conflicting reports attributed the development to inability of the authorities concerned to carryout repair works on the pipelines damaged by militants in February.
But another account said contractors were still awaiting assurance from the security agencies before being at the site, a situation that is bound to delay work till the end of next month.
This is a major facility used by SPDC, a local affiliate of Shell, to export crude oil from Nigeria.
Forcados crude accounts for between 250,000 and 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) prior to an unusually sophisticated attack by a militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), on the underwater pipeline.
Minister of Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu had told news men earlier this month that repairs would be completed by the end of July.
But an official of SPDC said: “We have no new updates but are committed to bringing the line back as soon as possible. We can’t give any specific timing.”
The NDA has also hit other major installations and brought the country’s output to the lowest in decades with less than 1.2 million bpd currently.
An OPEC-member country, Nigeria depends on oil sales for the bulk of government revenues and more than 90 percent of all its foreign exchange.
President Mhuammadu Buhari said on Thursday that his administration was in talks with the NDA, which the group has denied several times. In June, government said it had secured a one-month ceasefire but attacks continued despite.
The situation is not helped by an official statement from NNPC that output was down by 700,000 bpd, though the country had budgeted producing about 2 million bpd of crude this year before insurgency held sway, a condition that has literally left Nigeria’s economy in a lock jam.

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