Report: Shell evacuates workers in Nigeria after security threat

Oil giant Shell has reportedly evacuated workers from some of its facilities in Nigeria following a security threat.

According to Nigerian newspaper Vanguard, the company during the weekend airlifted most of the workers from its Eja OML 79 offshore platform, and some of its workers from the nearby Bonga field.

Vanguard said on Monday that Shell had used three helicopters to remove 98 key personnel from Eja. Oil production from the field has reportedly been halted.

Offshore Energy Today has contacted Shell, seeking more info, but we are yet to receive a response.

The news of Shell’s move comes only days after a Chevron oil facility in Nigeria was blown up by a group known as Niger Delta Avengers.

In a statement last week the group said the international oil companies in Nigeria would be the group’s first target, along with all of their oil facilities and offshore platforms.

The group, which said its major goal was to “cripple the Nigeria economy”, even went on to provide the specific targets: Bonga FPSO, EA field, and tank farms such as Bonny tank farm, Escravos tank farm and Forcados tank farm.

Production down

According to U.S Energy Industry Administration, pipeline sabotage and oil supply disruptions in Nigeria have increased in 2016, leading to a decline in Nigeria’s crude oil production.

In its annual report for 2015, Shell said its share of production, onshore and offshore, in Nigeria was approximately 278 thousand boe/d in 2015, compared with approximately 300 thousand boe/d in 2014. The company then said security issues and crude oil theft in the Niger Delta continued to be significant challenges in 2015.

According to EIA, because Nigeria heavily depends on oil revenue, its economy is noticeably affected by changes to its oil production and/or to global crude oil prices. Citing IMF projections, EIA said the country’s oil and natural gas exports earned $52 billion in 2015, $35 billion less than in 2014, which is mostly attributed to the fall in oil prices that began in mid-2014.

Offshore Energy Today Staff