Royal Dutch Shell on Wednesday remained close mouthed over how much its East Area oilfield is producing. On Tuesday, the company confirmed that it had resumed oil output three years after the facility was shut down following militant attacks.
A Shell spokesman, Precious Okolobo, on Wednesday confirmed that production at East Area had resumed but didn't disclose specifics. He merely says in a text message: "SPDC Joint Venture can confirm that production has resumed at EA. Production at the shallow offshore field was suspended in February 2006 due to security concerns."
But Dow Jones newswire, quoting a company source, reports that the field is currently producing 50,000 barrels a day but could soon ramp up to its production capacity of 115,000 barrels a day.
Shut down of facility
The EA Field was shut down in early 2006, in one of the first targets on oil facilities made by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.
The re-streaming of the EA oilfield, a region in which US oil major, ExxonMohil also has an oilfield, is a rare bright spot for an industry battered by a string of militant attacks in the last two months.
Reprisals and reassurances
But hours after Shell's announcement, Nigeria's main militant group repeated its threat to revisit oil facilities that are repaired from previous attacks.
"We continue to monitor the security situation and we will take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of our staff and contractors," Mr. Okolobo said.
Quoting another Shell spokesman on Tuesday, Reuters reported that the EA oilfield was actually re-streamed about three weeks ago, saying, "EA resumed production about three weeks ago and is slowly ramping up," and declined to say how much the field was currently producing.
Traders said EA oil shipments were estimated between 60,000 barrels per day and 65,000 barrels per day for August.
The Shell EA field is located in Oil Mining Lease block 79, and lies 15 kilometres offshore and approximately 90km south-west of Warri,
Cost of militancy
Since then, MEND has devastated the OPEC member's oil industry and has kept Nigeria from pumping above two-thirds of its installed capacity, costing it billions of dollars in lost revenue.
The militant group, which says it is fighting for a fairer share of the Niger Delta's wealth, declared a 60-day ceasefire in its offensive last week to provide a chance for peace talks with the government.
But it has also threatened oil companies that if it tries to repair damaged pipelines, flow stations and other facilities that rebels will attack them again.
"We wish to make it clear however that the pipelines and facilities that were destroyed ... will be revisited if they are repaired during this time," MEND said in a statement late Tuesday.
MEND attacks have forced Shell, U.S. oil major Chevron and Italy's Agip to cut around 300,000 barrels per day in the last two months and has helped support global oil prices.
The militant group also said it would release within 24 hours six foreign workers kidnapped on July 5 after their chemical tanker was hijacked off the coast of Escravos in the Niger Delta.
Three of the hostages were from Russia, two from the Philippines and one from India.
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