Abuja, February 01: Royal Dutch Shell has shut down three oil flow stations in Nigeria’s Niger Delta after a key crude oil pipeline was sabotaged, a company spokeswoman said on Sunday.
“A leak was observed yesterday on the Trans Ramos Pipeline,” she said. “The leak, confirmed to have been caused by sabotage, has stopped with the shutdown of three flow stations yesterday.”
It was not clear how much oil production had been shutdown or who had carried out the attack. Such attacks can be carried out by insurgents or disgruntled local people.
Shell said it was working to contain and recover the spilled oil in the creeks of the Niger Delta, the heartland of Africa’s biggest energy producer.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the country’s main militant group, called off a three-month old ceasefire on Saturday and threatened to unleash “an all-out assault” on the oil and gas industry.
–Agencies