TheCable

Eni, the parent company of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), says it has lifted a force majeure at its Brass terminal in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state.

Force majeure is a clause that allows a company to skip contractual obligations following issues beyond its control.

On Monday, Eni announced that it had cut oil and gas exports from its Brass export terminal following an incident caused by a blast.

Eni said the blast, which occurred March 5, resulted from an attack on the facility.

On Tuesday, the oil company had said it had completed repairs on the Ogoda/Brass 24 oil pipeline at Okparatubo.

According to a statement made available to TheCable on Friday, Eni said the pipeline had been restored, and the terminal could run at its full capacity.

“Following the restoration of the Ogoda/Brass 24″ oil pipeline at Okparatubo (Nembe Local Government Area, Bayelsa State), which was hit by blast on March 5 caused by a third-party interference, force majeure has been lifted at Brass terminal, Bonny NLNG and Okpai Power Plant today,” the statement reads. 

The high rate of pipeline vandalisation and illegal oil bunkering continue to erode oil gains for Nigeria.

Earlier in the month, oil producers had lamented the negative impact of illegal oil bunkering on its activities and asked the federal government to ensure maximum security at facilities.

On Thursday, Tony Elumelu, chairman of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, also decried the quantity of crude oil lost to oil theft.

“Businesses are suffering. How can we be losing over 95% of oil production to thieves,” he had said.

Amid dwindling production capacity, Nigeria’s oil production dropped in February to an average of 1.25 million barrels per day (bpd) from 1.39 million the previous month.