Revealed! Why Aiteo shut down the 150,000 Nembe Creek oil field

• Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company, operators of the  Nembe Creek Trunk Line, has shut down oil exploration
• The company said it detected an oil leak in the 150,000 barrels Nembe Creek oil field on June 17, 2024
• Aiteo disclosed that the shutdown is a precautionary measure to contain the oil spill in the area

Legit.ng’s Pascal Oparada has reported on tech, energy, stocks, investment, and the economy for over a decade.

Nigeria’s oil production declined after a major oil field shut down due to leaks. 

The Nembe Creek oil field, with 150,000 barrels of crude oil daily, was shut down on Monday, June 17, 2024.

Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company shuts down oil field Credit: Bloomberg/Contributor
Source: Getty Images

Aiteo shuts down operations to forestall further leaks

The leak reportedly occurred on the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL), a pipeline that transports oil from the field to the Bonny Oil Export Terminal.

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Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company, the pipeline operator, disclosed the leak and the shutdown.

Aiteo reported that the leak was found during a route operation in the Nembe area of Bayelsa state.

According to reports, Aiteo noted that its Oil Spill and Emergency Response Team was activated and dispatched, and all the production from OML 29 was shut down as a precautionary measure to forestall the impact of the incident.

It is still being determined what caused the leak, but the company said the shutdown prevented the spill.

Nigeria’s oil production suffers setback

Reports say the company said its joint venture partners, relevant regulators, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDA) have been notified of the incident.

Analysts say that the development is set back to Nigeria’s oil production, which declined to 1.25 million, according to data from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The OPEC’s data shows that Nigeria’s crude oil production declined to 1.25 million barrels daily in May 2024, Legit.ng reported.

The information is contained in OPEC’s monthly oil market report released on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, and is based on direct communication with Nigerian authorities.

Nigeria is still Africa’s largest oil producer

OPEC’s data comes from communication with member countries and secondary sources such as energy intelligence platforms.

The 1.25 million barrels in May represents a 2.34% drop from the 1.28 million barrels recorded in April this year.

Despite the dip in oil production, Nigeria remains Africa’s largest oil producer for the month under review, with Libya coming second with 901,000 barrels and Algeria third with 264,000 barrels of crude.

Secondary sources reported a different figure, showing that Nigeria’s crude oil production rose by five percent to 1.41 million barrels daily, up from the 1.35 million barrels per day produced in April.

Top oil-producing countries in Africa

The two figures, however, fall short of OPEC’s 2024 oil production quota for Nigeria, which is about 1.5 million barrels daily.

The global oil cartel said crude oil production from Gabon and Equatorial Guinea increased, with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya, and Congo experiencing a decline in production.

OPEC reported that crude oil production averaged 26.63 million barrels per day in May 2024, an increase of 29,000 barrels per day.

Dangote Refinery ships fuel to Singapore

Legit.ng previously reported that the Dangote Refinery is set to export a shipment of low-sulfur straight-run fuel oil (LSSR) from Nigeria to Singapore this week.

The information is based on ship tracking data and market sources, indicating that this is the first time Africa’s largest refinery is entering the Asian market.

The shipment initiates a new trade route from the new refinery to Aisa, which reportedly lacks the low-sulfur fuel oil required for powering ships at Singapore, the world’s largest bunker hub.

Source: Legit.ng