Nigeria’s revenue earnings from crude oil may jump up soon as Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has resumed export operations at the Forcados Oil Export Terminal, where repair works on the pipeline has been going for some days.
The Forcados Export pipeline which has a capacity to export over 400,000 barrels of crude per day was vandalized by crude oil thieves, and this has hampered the functionality of the pipeline thereby hindering the transportation of crude oil through the pipeline to the export terminal
Confirming the resumption of export operations yesterday night, an official of SPDC said: “SPDC can confirm that essential repairs at Forcados Oil Terminal are complete and export operations have resumed on October 20, 2022.”
Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) had last week stated that the Forcados Oil Terminal will resume export operations by the end of this month when ongoing essential repairs would have been completed.
“In addition to the repairs, we are working to remove and clamp theft points on the onshore pipelines to ensure full crude oil receipt at the terminal,” SPDC’s Media Relations Manager, Abimbola Essien-Nelson, said in a statement last week, Wednesday.
This would however enable Nigeria to export about 400,000 barrels of crude oil in addition to what is currently exporting.
The country has capacity to produce atleast 2.5 million barrels per day but because of lack of investment and issue of security, it has recorded a lot of shut –in, and some cases differed production.
The Forcados Oil Pipeline System is the second largest network in the Niger Delta, and transports oil, water and associated gas from fields in the western delta to the Forcados oil terminal.
The Trans Forcados Pipeline (TFP) is the major trunk line, into which feed multiple branches from onshore fields. At the Forcados River manifold, its capacity is 850,000 b/d. Until 2012, the pipeline was operated by Shell
According to Essien-Nelson, the active illegal connections to SPDC joint venture’s production lines and facilities in western Niger Delta as well as the inactive illegal connection to the onshore section of the 48” Forcados Export Line are in the company’s ongoing programme to remove illegal connections on the pipelines that feed the terminal.
She said, “SPDC gives priority to the removal of active illegal connections and to illegal connection points that have leaks. This scheduled programme is continuous as new illegal connections are identified during surveillance of the pipelines. An example of such illegal connection is that on the onshore section of the 48” Forcados Export Line which is currently not active and has no sign of leak at the interconnection point.”
Essien-Nelson reiterated SPDC’s commitment to running its assets safely, reliably and in accordance with globally accepted standards.
“SPDC continues to work tirelessly, alongside government and partners, towards the eradication of crude theft from its infrastructure,” she said.
Also in recent times, the hiring of a security outfit to help stem the rate of crude oil theft in the country has provided leeway for companies to fix the pipeline and boost the export of crude oil in the country.
