Content area
Full text
Royal Dutch/Shell, ChevronTexaco, and Total Fina Elf face the prospect of a long production shut-in in the turbulent swamps of Nigeria's western Niger Delta, after spending nearly two weeks caught in the middle of violent clashes that have shut in well over a third of the country's output, causing the biggest disruptions since 1999 (EC Mar.21,p9). Amid fears that the fighting, sparked by political maneuvering ahead of presidential and local government elections in the next two months, could spread, companies may well choose not to return until after the polls.
Chevron's closure of the Escravos terminal has taken out 440,000 barrels per day, Shell has shut in around 325,000 b/d in nearby fields, and Total 7,500 b/d. If the stoppages continue, they will make a sizable dent in the companies' revenues and Nigeria's export earnings. Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. has called a meeting to discuss how much output could be boosted from stable areas to compensate for the 780,000 b/d loss. Companies are coy as to how much they are producing. But Energy Intelligence calculations suggest output is hovering at around 1.76 million b/d and an additional 145,000 b/d could be ramped...