LONDON, April 18 (Reuters) - Theft of crude oil from thepipeline network of Shell's Nigerian subsidiary fell to 25,000barrels per day (bpd) in 2015, the company said on Monday,roughly 32 percent less than the previous year.
The number of sabotage-related spills on the SPDC networkalso declined to 93 in 2015, compared with 139 the previousyear, Shell said in its annual sustainability report.
It attributed the decrease to divestments in the Niger Deltaand increased surveillance and security by the Nigeriangovernment, but said theft and sabotage were still responsiblefor around 85 percent of spills from SPDC operations.
President Muhammadu Buhari has said theft siphons as much as250,000 bpd of crude of its roughly 2 million bpd of productionand last week promised to crack down on groups responsible forpipeline attacks.
Still, the issue has continued to plague the country. Shellcurrently has a force majeure in place on Forcados crude oilexports following an attack on a subsea pipeline in February,while Italian oil major ENI reportedly declared force majeure onBrass River exports late last week. (Reporting by Libby George and Karolin Schaps; Editing by MarkPotter)