(Ecofin Agency) - Royal Dutch Shell has at last lifted the force majeure placed on exports of the Forcados crude oil, bringing all oil exports from Nigeria fully online for the first time in 16 months.

Forcados which exports 200,000 to 240,000 barrels of crude per day had been under force majeure since February 2016, following a military attack on the Trans-Forcados Pipeline, its main export route.

“The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) lifted the force majeure on crude oil exports from Forcados Terminal on Tuesday. SPDC is grateful to various stakeholders, particularly the federal and Delta State governments, security agencies, NNPC and communities for their support in the repair of the three sabotage leaks on the pipeline,” the company said in a statement.

The recommencement of exports of this crude will bring Nigeria to the 1.8 million bpd level the government has been pursuing before it joins the OPEC output pact. Let’s recall that Nigeria and Libya whose output had been affected by unrest were exempted from the pact. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some other non-OPEC producers again last month agreed to extend output cuts till next year March.

According to Reuters, last week, Shell issued a loading program for June exports. This program increased planned exports by the country to 1.75 million bpd. However on Wednesday, traders said Shell increased this volume by 252,000 bpd to 1.8 million bpd.

Anita Fatunji