The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), a company which produces and supplies gas to domestic customers through pipelines has declared force majeure on Bonny Light exports effective from August 27, 2015 as result of the activities of vandals and oil thieves.

The declaration came in less than one week after the company lifted the force majeure it had declared on gas supplies to the Nigeria LNG plant in Bonny Island in Rivers State, following a leak on the Eastern Gas Gathering System (EGGS) caused by oil thieves, who had thought that the pipeline was used for crude oil.

The company stated in a statement issued to Thisday in Lagos that the development follows the shutdown of the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) and Nembe Creek Trunkline, (NCTL).

A leak was reported on the TNP at Oloma in Rivers State, while the NCTL is shut down for the removal of crude theft points, the statement said, adding that SPDC was working to repair and reopen the two lines as quickly as possible.

The statement however did not disclose the volume of crude oil affected by the shutdown of the two pipelines. The Shell-operated TNP and the NCTL are the two major pipelines used by Shell and third party to transport crude oil produced in the Eastern Niger Delta to the 480,000 bpd capacity Bonny Export Terminal in the Bonny Island of Rivers State. Shell had during its latest investment of onshore assets sold NCTL and Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 to Aiteo Consortium for $2.5 billion but has not handed over the operatorship of the pipeline to the new owners.