Trans Forcados Oil Pipeline Closure Hinders 240,000bpd Exports

• NNPC remitted N1.26tn to Federation Account in 2018

Ejiofor Alike in Lagos and Kasim Sumaina in Abuja with agency reports

The closure of the Trans Forcados Pipeline by Heritage Oil has hindered the exports of about 240,000 barrels per day of Forcados grade of crude oil through the Forcados Export Terminal in Delta State, THISDAY has learnt.

This is coming as Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo) said it was working with the federal government and other partners towards the actualisation of the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the Bonga South West Aparo deepwater project, which will have a production capacity of 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has also declared that it met its financial obligations to the Federation Account in 2018 by remitting N1.26 trillion as against the N1.22 trillion projected in the 2018 budget, recording a surplus of N41 billion.

The Trans-Forcados pipeline is the major trunk line in the Forcados Pipeline System used by oil companies operating in the western Niger Delta to evacuate crude oil from about 15 producing fields to the Forcados export terminal.

The pipeline is the second largest network in the Niger Delta after the Bonny Oil Pipeline System in the eastern Niger Delta.

However, the pipeline has remained closed after a fire broke out around the facility on Sunday, but a Shell spokeswoman said yesterday that no force majeure had been declared.

Heritage Energy Operational Services Limited operates the pipeline, along with its oil block – Oil Mining Lease (OML) 30.

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Shoreline Natural Resources, Neconde, Elcrest E&P, ND Western and First Hydrocarbon Nigeria are also some of the major producing companies that evacuate crude oil through the pipeline.

Marginal field operators such as Pillar Oil, Energia, Platform Petroleum, and Midwestern Oil, also evacuate crude through the facility.

While Shell manages the export terminal, Heritage Energy operates the pipeline.

A spokesman for Heritage said on Monday there was a fire near the pipeline on Sunday but did not say whether the pipeline itself was affected.

But Reuters quoted Collins Edema who lives near the site of the incident as saying yesterday that “the fire is still raging”.

“The pipeline is long due for replacement and leaks from time to time. Repairs were going on there on a leaking portion when the fire broke out, burning the pipeline, the pumping machine and other equipment the contractors were using for repairs,” he reportedly added.

Meanwhile, SNEPCo has stated that it was working with the federal government and other partners towards the actualisation of the FID for the Bonga South West Aparo deepwater project, which will have a production capacity of 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The company quoted its Managing Director, Mr. Bayo Ojulari, as saying in a statement yesterday that “we are working with our government and other partners to take the project to a point where we are able to take the final investment decision.”

Ojulari said the company was making progress with the 150,000 barrel per day capacity project after signing the Head of Terms (HoT) agreement with partners last February and released Invitation to Tenders (ITT) to contractors in the same month.

NNPC Remitted N1.26tn to Federation Account

Also yesterday, NNPC said it met its financial obligations to the Federation Account in 2018 by remitting more than the projected N1.26 trillion.

The Managing Director of NNPC Capital, Mr. Godwin Okonkwo, gave the figure in Abuja when he represented the Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, during a presentation to the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on the Investigation of the Non-Remittances of Funds to the Federation Account by the corporation between July 2017 and December 2018.

A statement by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, quoted Baru as saying that though 2.3million barrels per day (mbpd) was proposed in the 2018 budget, national daily production for the period under review oscillated between 1.89mbpd and 1.9mbpd.

Baru listed the two sources of inflows into the Federation Account from the NNPC to include equity crude oil sales less cost of recovery from the Joint Venture cash call arrears and domestic crude less cost recovery.

He added that the JV cash call arrears were being efficiently managed now to ensure steady inflows to the Federation Account.