Abuja (Platts)--19Feb2013/810 am EST/1310 GMT

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has held talks with world leaders, including UK Prime Minister David Cameron, to help stem crude theft in the Niger Delta, Nigeria's oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke said Tuesday.

"The government is doing everything possible to address the issue. President Jonathan is holding talks with his foreign counterparts to see how this could be tackled. In fact, discussions were held with the Prime Minister of Britain just last Monday, and they are all on board to put an end to this scourge," Alison-Madueke told delegates at an annual industry conference in Abuja.

She gave no details on what steps have been discussed.

Oil theft, known in Nigeria as bunkering, is a major reason Africa's top producer has been unable to produce anywhere near its installed capacity of around 3.2 million b/d and deprives the country of revenues estimated at more than $7 billion a year.

Shell's country chair for Nigeria on Tuesday said the lucrative business of oil theft continues to underscore the perennial problems of insecurity in the Niger Delta region.

"Militance has been replaced by industrial-scale oil theft," Mutiu Sunmonu said todl the conference.

US BARRELS HIT NIGERIA'S OIL EXPORTS

Alison-Madueke also warned that Nigeria is coming under increasing competitive pressure from US Gulf Coast refiners cutting imports in favor of domestically-produced crude.

US purchases of crude fell to a five-year low in the last few months, pushing Nigeria to sixth position from fifth among suppliers to the world's largest consumer.

"US shale oil and an increase in their gas production is already affecting our exports to the United States. Bear in mind that the United States is one of our major importers in this sector," the minister said.

Sunmonu also said the discovery of shale gas in the US has not only led to the decline in the demand for Nigeria's crude but also poses a threat for other producers.

"This path towards self-sufficiency [by the US] has been there for a long time and it poses a serious challenge to oil producers from sub-Saharan African like Nigeria," he said.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency says the US could become the world's biggest oil producer by 2017.

PORT HARCOURT REFINERY TO SHUT FOR MAINTENANCE IN MAY

The minister also said the 210,000 b/d Port Harcourt refinery would be shut in May for major maintenance.

"Contractors have been already mobilized to the site for preliminary work. The main work will begin in May."

Maintenance will be carried out on the Kaduna refinery in the fourth quarter and on the Warri plant next year, the minister said.

"Our target is to gradually decrease fuel importation. Already the various interventions in the domestic refineries saw an improvement in domestic fuel supply to 21 million liters daily as at end of 2012 from 12 million liters a year before," Alison-Madueke said.

Nigeria's four refineries have never reached full production capacity of 445,000 b/d due to operational failures and sabotage, mainly on crude pipelines feeding the plants.

--Staff, newsdesk@platts.com
--Edited by Alisdair Bowles, alisdair_bowles@platts.com

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