Nigeria is currently facing additional challenges to export her crude oil following shut down of critical export facilities.
Nigeria, which has seen an exponential oil production decline in the last few months, is shutting another 200,000 daily production as oil major Shell announces routine maintenance.
Shell’s 200,000 barrels-per-day Bonga deep water storage and offloading vessel, FPSO, in Nigeria is scheduled for maintenance in October, a spokesperson had said on Sunday.
The Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company did not say how long maintenance on the Bonga floating unit would last.
Bonga is typically one of the larger export streams from Nigeria.
Bonga crude oil stream was due to load 31,000 bpd in October, down from 95,000 the previous month, according to a preliminary export programme seen by traders.
NATIONAL ECONOMYÂ reports an update by Decklar Resources on operational activities relating to the transportation and export of crude oil produced from the Oza oil field in Nigeria.
According to Decklar and its co-venturer Millenium Oil & Gas Company, the 7,800 barrels of crude oil (‘bbls’) previously delivered to the Umugini Pipeline Infrastructure Limited crude handling facilities has now been delivered to the Forcados crude oil export terminal.
Unfortunately,  the 7,800 bbls, which are ready for export, would be pending untill the completion of certain repairs to the offshore loading system.
In the meantime, an additional 30,000 bbls has been produced from the Oza Oil Field and is currently being stored in tanks at the Oza-1 wellsite.
These 30,000 bbls, which brings the total products to 37,800 bbls, will be the initial barrels transported to the new export facilities.
Once part of this crude has been shipped from the Oza Oil Field tanks, the Oza-1 well will be brought back onto production, with the ultimate goal being the provision of a stable, ongoing supply of crude oil into new alternative export facilities.
Decklar and Millenium also announced that an agreement has also been reached to transport and sell Oza oil field crude oil to a company that owns and operates  a small crude oil refinery in Edo State, Nigeria.
The agreement provides for an initial sale of 10,000 bbls. The parties are also in discussions to increase the sale quantity to 30,000 bbls and to possibly agree a minimum monthly quantity of barrels of Oza Oil Field crude to be sold to the oil refinery. It is anticipated that all required government permits will be finalized and in place in the next three to four weeks.
Separately, agreements have been executed to truck crude oil from the Oza Oil Field to a 45,000 barrel tank farm located in Akwete.
CEO of Decklar Resources, Sanmi Famuyide, said: “the new crude export arrangements, including the sale of the Oza crude oil in storage, sale of future production to a local refinery, and trucking crude oil from the Oza Oil Field to the Akwete tank farm for barging to an FSO, will allow Decklar to significantly increase deliveries of oil to markets through improved logistics and alternative export facilities.
“These new and existing export alternatives will allow Decklar to generate revenue in the near future as we look forward to the commencement of more efficient crude oil transport and exports from the Oza field.”
Between Depleting Workforce And Declining Productivity