Eni has declared a force majeure on Nigeria's Brass River crude oil stream following an explosion on its Ogbaimbiri-Tebidaba pipeline in Bayelsa state on Sunday evening, according to the company’s spokesman.

The attack follows a similar attack on an Eni pipeline last week and attacks on oil installations run by Shell and Chevron at the beginning of May by militants.

Approximately 21,000 bpd of the stream’s output was affected by the explosion but only 4,200 bpd from the company’s equity stake were offline.

In total, this represents nearly 20% of the crude stream’s usual production and another problem for the country’s oil exports which have been crippled in the past months by militant, Reuters reports

This is the fourteenth time this year that Eni’s pipeline has been attacked by militants. This recent attack is coming after President Muhammadu Buhari increased the presence of the military in the Niger Delta region as these attacks on oil installations have resulted in a significant drop in oil output.

Anita Fatunji