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Shell shuts Nigerian oil platform after leak.

Royal Dutch Shell is shutting down its 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) Bonga oilfield off the Nigerian coast after a leak occurred while loading a tanker, the firm has said in a statement.

Shell said that "less than 40,000 barrels of oil" has leaked into the ocean. The flow of oil has now halted, a spokesman said.

The leak occurred while a tanker was loading oil from Shell's Bonga facility about 120 kilometres off the coast of Nigeria, according to the statement.

Bonga accounts for around 10 percent of monthly oil flows from OPEC member Nigeria, the continent's largest exporter of crude oil, according to Reuters data.

"We are sorry this leak has happened. As soon as we became aware of it, we stopped the flow of oil and mobilised our own resources, as well as industry expertise, to ensure its effects are minimised," said Shell Nigeria Country Chair Mutiu Sunmonu.

"It is important to stress that this was not a well control incident of any sort, and to make clear that no-one has been injured. Our focus now is on a speedy and effective clean-up," he added.

A Shell spokesman said that the flow of oil has been halted on all three of the platform's export lines where it is believed that the leak occurred.

An investigation will be launched into the reasons for the leak, he said, without giving a timeframe for the restart of production.

Shell's share price fell during the day by around 1.5 percent on Wednesday to 2,271 pence by 1314 GMT.

Oil traders in West Africa said news of the shut down will likely boost prices for other Nigerian grades.

"It should lend some support to the remaining Nigerian (oil)," said one trader.

 

www.royaldutchshellplc.com

 

This article was originally posted on Africa Oil & Mining Network

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