Shell declares force majeure on Nigeria Forcados liftings

Paris (Platts)--13Jan2006

Shell has declared force majeure on 106,000 b/d Nigerian Forcados oil
after an attack on a major pipeline in the volatile Niger Delta, a company
spokesman said Friday.

     "The force majeure was declared as a result of incidents on the
Trans-Ramos pipeline," the spokesman said. 

     "The force majeure is likely to result in a three- to four-day deferment
of Forcados offtake scheduled for the rest of January and all of the February
agreed program," the spokesman added.

     The company shut in 106,000 b/d after an explosion Wednesday on a
pipeline feeding the Forcados terminal, from which it exports about half of
its Nigerian output of around 1-mil b/d.

     The company, Nigeria's largest oil exporter, was also forced to shut in
120,000 b/d at the EA field, located 15 km offshore southwest of Warri after
heavily armed gunmen Wednesday stormed a support vessel servicing the field's
offshore platform and kidnapped four foreign workers.

     The Nigerian government Thursday ordered the deployment of two Naval
ships to guard Shell's EA FPSO. "Following the kidnapped of the oil workers,
the federal government directed this morning that two Naval ships be deployed
to patrol the EA facility," a senior government official said.

     Meanwhile, Nigerian troops were searching Friday for an armed pirate gang
who were armed with military-style weapons such as Kalashnikov assault
rifles, a military spokesman said. 

     "We are making efforts to identify the group that took them and find out
where they are," he said, explaining that the kidnappers are thought to have
taken the men into the winding creeks of the delta swamp, AFP reported.

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