200,000bpd Crude Oil Export Stranded After Explosion Hits Conveyor Facilities

Two oil pipelines that feed the Brass export terminal, one of Nigeria’s export streams operated by Italian group Eni, have been blown up by explosives.

Brass is one of the major onshore crude grades, and the terminal has a capacity to export some 200,000 barrels per day.

Spokesman for Police in Bayelsa state, Asinim Butswat, said, in a statement, that a trunkline carrying crude from Omoku to Brass Terminal at Etiama was blown up July 30. On August 11, an improvised explosive device blew up another pipeline at Obama Tekere River, which also supplies the terminal.

Four suspects have been arrested after a gun battle with police, Butswat said.

Eni has yet to comment on the issue. Its exports were last under force majeure in March after a blast on another Brass pipeline.

Disruptions to oil production are common in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, where pipelines are often vandalised and crude stolen for illegal refining.

This will further dampen Nigeria’s crude oil production  performance which averaged 1.183 million barrels per day (bpd) in July 2022, data from OPEC revealed.

This is a far cry from the 1.83mbpd production quota given to the country by OPEC.

The report said the figure showed an increase of 7,000 barrels per day when compared with 1.176mb/d produced averagely in the month of June 2022.

“According to secondary sources, averaged 28.92 mb/d in July 2022, higher by 216,000 barrels per day month-on-month.

“Crude oil output increased mainly in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, while production in Venezuela and Angola declined,” it said.