Shell Nigeria pipeline closed

ABUJA, September 27, 2016 – The Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) was shut down on Monday after a fire was reported, operator Shell Petroleum Development Company said, marking the third-such closure in less than three months.

A Shell spokesperson said that “it was not yet clear” whether the company would have to declare force majeure on export supplies. The 28-inch TNP pipeline, which was closed as a precaution, transports some 180,000 bopd to the Bonny Export Terminal.

Citing locals, Nigerian media on Monday reported that the blaze was immense. “The fire is huge and [was] still raging when I left, we do not know the cause of fire yet, whether it is sabotage or system failure,” an environmental rights group project officer, Kentebe Ibiaridor, was quoted as saying.

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