As Shell Evacuates Staff From Oil Rigs, Chevron Loses 35,000 bpd To Attacks In The Niger Delta

Meanwhile, US energy giant Chevron has lost thousands of barrels worth of oil production capacity since militants blew up an offshore platform in Nigeria in renewed violence that could hit exports from Africa’s largest oil producer, the company said. “Approximately 35,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Chevron’s net crude oil production in Nigeria are impacted,” company spokeswoman Isabel Ordonez said in a statement late Friday.

Militants on Wednesday night used explosives to blow up the Okan platform, a collection facility for offshore oil and gas that feeds the Escravos terminal in southern Nigeria.

The impact of the attack was significant in a country where Chevron’s net daily production in 2014 averaged 240,000 barrels of crude oil, 236 million cubic feet of natural gas and 6,000 barrels of liquefied petroleum gas, according to the company’s website.

Nigerian navy spokesman Chris Ezekobe told AFP that a previously unknown group called the Niger Delta Avengers claimed responsibility for the assault.