Shell Extends Suspension on Nigeria Crude Obligations

By Alexander Kwiatkowski

Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's biggest oil producer, extended a suspension of export obligations for its Bonny Light crude after discovering further leaks on a pipeline attacked by militants in July.

Shell Petroleum Development Co., the company's local unit, ``is extending the force majeure it declared on July 29 on the Bonny light offtake program,'' spokesman Rainer Winzenried said in an e-mailed statement today. The extent of the suspension will ``depend on the progress of repair work,'' he said.

Force majeure is a legal clause that allows producers to miss contracted deliveries because of circumstances beyond their control.

Nigeria has fallen behind Angola as Africa's biggest oil exporter this year as militant attacks on oil installations and pipelines crimp production. Bonny Light is the light, sweet variety of oil, typically pumped by Nigeria and favored by U.S. refiners for the quantity of gasoline it produces.

Shell originally declared force majeure on Bonny deliveries in July, August and September after militants attacked the Nembe Creek trunk-line in the Kula area of Rivers state, shutting some crude production. Nigeria's main militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, claimed responsibility for the attack.

``The company had worked hard to repair the pipeline and bring back production only to discover more leaks from the effects of the attack,'' Winzenried said.

Exports of Bonny Light were originally scheduled to increase 24 percent in October as production resumed. Shipments were scheduled to average 196,774 barrels a day, compared with 158,333 barrels a day in September. Bonny Light production is normally in excess of 300,000 barrels a day.

To contact the reporters on this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski in London at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net