Nigeria Niger Delta shut in over 800,000 barrels per day

LAGOS (MarketWatch) — A Nigerian government official said Friday that a shut-in at the country’s oil rich Niger Delta is in fact 800,000 barrels a day and higher than previously reported.

Speaking at an industry event in Lagos, Tony Chukwueke, director of Nigeria’s Department of Petroleum Resources, said “as I speak to you now, Nigeria has shut in over 800,000 b/d. This is a huge loss to Nigeria and we don’t know what to do about it.”

Until now it was thought that attacks by the region’s militants, who are fighting for regional control of Nigeria’s oil resources, had cut the country’s crude oil output by more than 500,000 b/d, most of it from a joint venture operated by Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB).

The major militant group – the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta – warned recently it was preparing for a major attack on the Nigerian oil industry.

MarketWatch