Shell to Reopen Oil Pipeline in Nigeria; Finds Gas in Egypt

According to reports published by Bloomberg, integrated energy major Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A expects its Forcados oil pipeline in Nigeria to restart deliveries in mid-September.

The pipeline was shut down in February when militants blew up the line that feeds into the Forcados terminal. Usually, this line exported about 200,000 barrels of oil per day. Following the terrorist attack, Shell declared force majeure, which allowed it to stop shipments without breaching current contracts.

Shell does not intend to delay the proposed re-opening any further in spite of the continued hostilities in the area.

In a separate development, Shell recently announced new natural gas discoveries in a concession area of north Alam El-Shawish in Egypt's western desert. The new natural gas field is estimated to hold reserves of about 500 billion cubic feet with possibility of even more reserves. Hence, the field has been touted as one of the largest natural gas discoveries in the western desert in recent years.

The discovery is expected to produce about 10–15% of the total production of Badr El-Din Petroleum, which conducts the production processes on behalf of Shell and state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corp.

Headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, Shell is one of the largest integrated oil and gas companies in the world. It explores for and extracts crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. It has interests in chemicals as well as power generation and renewable energy.

Shell currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), implying that it will perform in line with the broader U.S. equity market over the next one to three months.

Some better-ranked players in the broader energy sector are Devon Energy Corporation DVN, Gulfport Energy Corp. GPOR and Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. EEP. All of these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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